Wily Tower: Revenge of the Genesis Unit
by doctorwho29
Summary: Mega Man thought his troubles were over after finally dealing with Dr. Wily. A new enemy had risen to shatter the peace and they've made it personal.
1. Genesis of a New Battle

**Hello Faithful Readers! The Blue Bomber is back and facing a new enemy. I hope you all enjoy this!**

* * *

Genesis of a New Battle

All was peaceful at Light Labs. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the dog known as Rush was napping in the yard. Though mechanical in nature, Rush and the other creations of Dr. Light sometimes slept as a method of recharging their energy stores. He was snoring gently when a butterfly landed on his nose. It fluttered its wings a bit and the sensitive nose was agitated. Rush reluctantly opened his eyes and focused on the intruder.

Rush barked and the butterfly fluttered away. He closed his eyes again with a sigh but felt it land again. He growled in frustration and swiped at it only to smack his own nose when it dodged his paw. It landed a few feet away and Rush swiped at it again only to miss once more. The same thing happened a few more times and it finally settled in another part of the yard.

Rush was getting irritated by now; he wasn't about to be bested by an insect. He slowly rose to his feet and began to carefully creep closer to the butterfly. He jumped at it but it was already in the air again. He jumped again, landed badly, and tumbled across the yard. He rolled to a stop in a large shadow and grunted in frustration. His brain then registered the sudden darkness and he looked up to see three frightening figures.

"Don't worry, doggie" the figure in front said as it leaned on a staff "We're not going to hurt you."

"Much!" the largest one added in a deep voice and all three strangers laughed at the joke.

* * *

"Oh my goodness" Dr. Light said "I think today is exactly what the doctor ordered."

"I agree entirely" a man across the table replied

From another chair, Rock said "Well if you both are doctors, who ordered it?"

"I did!" both men simultaneously replied before laughing heartily.

Dr. Light and his robotic children, Rock and Roll, were enjoying a day on the town with their new friend, Dr. Murphy Whitefeather. Dr. Whitefeather was involved with the government's new robotics initiatives. It didn't take long for the conversation to come around to this particular topic.

"I'm glad that the energy refractors and other alien technology can be used to benefit mankind" Dr. Light said as he sipped his wine "I just never anticipated how stressful the constant meetings, negations, and all of it would be."

"You're telling me" Dr. Whitefeather responded with a nod of his head. "I mean the very idea that the military wants you to go back to designing weapons and even Robot Masters for them."

"The only thing I like about that is that I met a new friend because of it" Dr. Light responded with a smile.

"Yes, I was thrilled when they asked me to talk to you about it but I didn't relish the job of trying to convince you."

"They had the Sniper Joes and a few other ideas of mine and look how that turned out."

"I can certainly vouch for that one" Rock said with a frown

"Yeah" said Roll from across the table "They were hijacked by Dr. Wily and you had to deal with it!"

Both Dr. Light and Rock looked downcast at the mention of Dr. Wily. There had been no sign of him since the battle against the giant robot, Gamma. Rock was sure that Dr. Wily had been crushed when Gamma's chamber had collapsed and the idea did not please him. Yes, he was a twisted a man who had tried to conquer the world but the idea of him being dead still didn't sit well with the little robot. Dr. Light was also still grieving for his old friend turned enemy.

"Yes" Dr. Light said quietly "Many innovations meant for good were turned to malicious purposes. I pray that we as a race can soon get past this mentality but I somehow doubt it."

"How can we not with the great Thomas Light leading us" Dr. Whitefeather answered. Dr. Light looked up at his new friend. Dr. Whitefeather had a slightly darker skin tone, long black hair worn in a ponytail, facial features with a rugged quality…all marks of his tribal heritage…but what Dr. Light noticed was the kind expression displaying Dr. Whitefeather's genuine confidence in him.

"I don't know about great but I thank you for the compliment."

"Oh stop being so modest! You and your family have revolutionized many fields of science almost singlehandedly. The Robot Masters, barring a few unfortunate events, are pure genius! I may just have to try to build one myself one day."

"I would love to see that" Dr. Light replied with a smile of his own "I never intended the Robot Masters to solely be Light Labs products. I'd love to see a world filled with them and both robots and humans alike the better for it."

"It's a wonder you hate public speaking so much" Roll said "You seem to have a lot of good stuff to say."

Dr. Light blushed slightly and said "Thank you Roll."

"You're welcome!"

"Come" Dr. Light said "let's talk about other things. Murphy, you are going to love the concert. The program looks phenomenal!"

"It had better be, the way you've been talking it up" Dr. Whitefeather said with a smile "You do have a passion for music Thomas."

"Indeed I do! It's almost as strong as my passion for robotics."

"That's obvious because the two overlap."

"Oh?" the entire Light family looked slightly confused and Dr. Whitefeather rolled his eyes slightly

"Rock and Roll?" he said indicated each child in turn "You don't see the connection there?"

"I suppose I haven't thought about it recently" Dr. Light said looking slightly embarrassed.

"We like it" the robot siblings said with identical grins.

"As do I" Dr. Whitefeather said with a smile of his own

Time passed quickly and soon the meal was over. The group left the restaurant and enjoyed a leisurely stroll to the concert hall. Soon they were settling into their seats and looking over their programs.

"Great seats, Dr. Light" Rock said as he surveyed the stage

"Well of course they're great seats" Roll said "He's Dr. Light!"

"Who would prefer not to have such special treatment" their father cut in "Although I'm not sure I mind it today."

Everyone laughed but stopped as the band began to warm up. The first performance had just begun when the auditorium was plunged into darkness. The music stopped and there were gasps and screams from all over. Rock was just about to adjust his vision to night mode but a spotlight trained on the stage rendered that unnecessary.

"Ladies and gentlemen" a high pitched, amused voice announced "There is a slight change in today's program."

"Indeed" a second, more refined, voice said "Though I assure you, this will be much more interesting."

"What they said!" a deep, booming voice added

Rock was already on his feet. He watched in readiness as a large trapdoor opened in the stage and the performers all scattered. Three robots rose from below with triumphant expressions. The eye was first drawn to a very large robot with a body like a blue ball and a head resembling a hog. His large mouth was currently opened wide in laughter.

Another robot was primarily themed with green except for a red dome on his head. He actually somewhat resembled drawings of kappas although a very dangerous one judging by the spikes on his shoulders and buster on one arm. His face somewhat resembled Bubble Man's with a yellow covering over his mouth but his eyes were visible. Rock was somewhat unnerved to see that they were staring right in his direction.

The third robot was red with a thin golden crown on his head. He resembled a monkey complete with tail and animal face. One hand clutched a brown staff with golden tips and he was grinning from ear to ear. "Hello world! Allow us to introduce ourselves" the monkey was now saying "My name is Buster Rod G!"

"I am called Mega Water S" the green kappa said

"And I'm Hyper Storm H" the round hog finished off

"Together" Buster Rod G finished off "we are the Genesis Unit, awesome creations of the late great Dr. Wily!"

"Whoever you are" Rock shouted as he transformed into Mega Man "I won't let you hurt anyone here!"

"That's very fortunate considering that we don't want to hurt anyone" Mega Water S answered

"Except you off course" Hyper Storm H added

"Ha!" Roll said as she stood on her chair "If you really are connected to Dr. Wily then you know you don't stand a chance against my brother!"

"You're a feisty one, aren't you" Buster Rod G said with a smirk "I like that in a girl."

"You leave her alone" Mega Man screamed "Leave everyone alone"

He wanted to rush the stage but a fight here would cause too much damage. Of course if they started something, he was ready to finish it. Near him, Drs Light and Whitefeather were among the few humans not trying to run away. "You guys need to get out of here while you can" he said to them in a low voice

"I think he's right, Murphy. He knows what he's doing."

"Oh are we sharing secrets now?" everyone turned to see Buster Rod G crouched on top of the seats in front of them. His hands were folded over the top of his staff, which was aiding his balance, and his chin nonchalantly rested on his hands. "Can I join in?" he continued in a whisper "I could tell you secrets about my brothers; for example HSH is actually pretty gullible."

"How about the secret of how to make you all go away?" Mega Man asked sarcastically

"We do plan to go away actually" Buster Rod G said in a perky voice "We're just taking a few things with us."

"After all, the game must be played properly" Mega Water S said as he strolled down the aisle towards them. Hyper Storm H was the slowest but he was stomping his way up the other side of the auditorium making a mess of the chairs due to his bulky body.

"You're gonna fight us where we wanna fight" the large pig said "And we're gonna make sure you show up."

Something clicked in Mega Man's head and he turned in horror to look at Dr. Light and Roll. "No, you can't!"

Buster Rod G raised his eyebrows and looked puzzled "We can't?" He shot out a hand and grabbed Roll's wrist "It looks like we can" he continued in his deceptively innocent voice

Roll pulled away and Mega Man tackled the monkey. They landed on the floor between rows of seats and Mega Man had his buster aimed into Buster Rod G's face. "Oh boy" the monkey exclaimed "This game looks like fun! Sadly, we have a plan to stick to."

He touched the end of his staff to Mega Man's side and the blue robot felt a painful surge of energy. This allowed Buster Rod G to kick Mega Man off of him and he leapt away backwards. Roll screamed and Mega Man straightened up. Hyper Storm H was now holding her by the back of her dress and she was flailing in the air.

"Put me down, you rancid pile of bacon!"

"Aw, that's nice."

"She wasn't paying you a compliment, you nincompoop" Mega Water S said as he pressed his buster into Dr. Light's back.

"What is it you three want?" Dr. Light asked

"Isn't it obvious?" Mega Water S asked

"He meant why are you doing any of this?" Dr. Whitefeather shouted. He was scared but also looking for any way of helping.

"Also obvious" a voice called from above. Buster Rod G was now hanging upside down by his tail from one of the lights. Mega Man wanted to fired at him but he knew they'd hurt his family if he did. So he just glared up at Buster Rod G and the monkey grinned "Revenge for what you did to Dr. Wily. He had barely completed us when you arrived and blew him up! Hey be careful with her Hyper Storm; she's cute."

Roll was now hitting any part of her captor she could reach with her shoe. "You can have her, she's too much trouble."

"If your quarrel is with me, then leave my family out of it!" Mega Man said

"That would be cruel to your dog" Mega Water S replied "He's so lonely right now; we're bringing him some company."

"What! You have Rush?"

"Ding ding ding, give the boy a prize" Buster Rod G said, still upside down with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed "We all needed hostages after all. I suppose Geronimo there could have worked but this is more fun." He sighed and said "I'm getting bored here" His eyes sprang open and he looked at Mega Man with a psychotic grin "Game start!"

Once again the auditorium was plunged into total darkness. Mega Man turned on night vision but was then blinded as the lights came back on in full force. "Ouch!"

"What, did they hurt you?" Dr. Whitefeather asked

"No, just don't have night vision on at the same time as the lights." He blinked and could see again. He observed that the hall was now empty except for Dr. Whitefeather and himself.

"They teleported" the scientist explained "Even with Thomas. You said that Dr. Wily had perfected human teleportation."

Mega Man swore very loudly and kicked a chair. It was torn from the floor and sailed across the room. "Calm down Rock please!" Dr. Whitefeather pleaded even though his own voice was very shaky

"How can I calm down?"

"If you don't, you'll be of no help to them. I'm sure Thomas and Roll are fine since there is no use in a dead hostage."

Mega Man paused and absorbed these words. "You're right. We need to focus and find those three."

"That's the spirit. Let's head back to Light Labs. We can best regroup and prepare there. As for finding them, I have a feeling that won't be difficult at all."

* * *

 **Note: I realize that some may be upset due to how Buster Rod G referred to Dr. Whitefeather. Keep in mind that he is a villain and does not speak for me. I hope I'm handing the Native American scientist well and am always open to advice.**


	2. Preparing for Battle

Preparing for Battle

When Mega Man and Dr. Whitefeather emerged from the music hall they found quite a crowd still gathered around. The scared concert attendees had been joined by emergency workers and reporters alike. Mega Man didn't quite know who to respond to when the questions began flying on all sides.

"What happened?"

"Who were those robots?"

"Did you defeat them or did you lose?"

"Where's Dr. Light?"

"Were there any injuries or fatalities?"

"Yikes word travels fast these days" Dr. Whitefeather said in an undertone to Mega Man. "I suppose we should say something."

Mega Man nodded and held up his hands for quiet "This is what happened. Three Wily robots completed shortly before his…defeat…attacked this place. They didn't hurt anyone but they did cause some property damage. They also issued a challenge to me and I will be accepting."

"Where are Dr. Light and Roll?"

"Could Dr. Wily still be alive?"

"Is the public in danger?"

The questions just kept coming from all sorts of people. Mega Man again held his hands up "My family, I regret to say has been captured by these robots" there was a gasp but Mega Man plowed on "we don't believe them to be in any immediate physical danger and I ask for everyone to let me handle this alone. That was what the Genesis Unit wanted and who knows what may happen to the hostages if we interfere in their so-called game. I will be bringing everyone home safely and dealing with these enemy robots one way or another."

The crowds just kept pressing in and more people kept shouting variations of "Is Dr. Wily behind this?"

"I don't see how that's possible" Mega Man answered "At the end of our last battle the entire place was in chaos. The cavern was collapsing, Gamma was exploding, and honestly I was lucky to get out of there at all. Dr. Wily was caught off guard; rocks were falling around him…" Mega Man paused as he remembered that day. Given how upset he already was, these memories were not helping his emotional state "I said it before and I'll say it now, I see no way that Dr. Wily could be alive. Now please let me pass.

When more questions were asked Dr. Whitefeather shouted "Hey, he answered your questions and we have lots of work to do! Please be so kind as to let us pass."

Many began to back off and the police persuaded the more stubborn members of the crowd to do the same. As the duo reached the street, a familiar voice called to them "Hey, need a lift?"

Mega Man turned to see the large, trench coat wearing figure of Agent Stern. He was standing next to an official looking vehicle with the back door held open.

"Yeah thanks a lot." Mega Man said

"Friend of yours?" Dr. Whitefeather asked

Agent Stern chuckled and answered for Mega Man "I don't know about friend but we are coming to understand each other. I'm Agent Gilbert Stern" He flashed an official looking badge and Dr. Whitefeather nodded.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Agent Stern. I'm Dr. Murphy Whitefeather of the Government Robotics Department."

"Yeah I think I've heard of you. Anyway, let's continue this chat in the car. We still have some lurkers here."

Soon everyone was buckled into the car and making their way to Light Labs. "I've dealt with curious crowds before" Mega Man said "but I don't think I'll ever be used to it."

"I guess Light did program some of himself into you" Stern replied "I heard the doc doesn't like such situations either."

"No, not usually" Mega Man said sadly

"Is what you said about Dr. Light true?" Stern asked

"Yes" Mega Man answered in a soft voice "The three Wily Robots took Dr. Light and Roll. I didn't mention it before but they also kidnapped my dog Rush."

"Hmmm" responded Stern "It's pretty obvious what they're doing but it could still be dangerous. Not to mention we don't know if they have deeper plans or not."

"I know but I have to go."

"Yeah I get it."

Dr. Whitefeather spoke up "I'll be there to guide him and help plan."

"Good for you" Agent Stern answered. He was looking at Dr. Whitefeather in the rearview mirror but seemed to be following another train of thought. "Do you happen to know what happened to all of Wily's old tech and robots?"

"Oh yes. Most of Dr. Wily's inventions and equipment were destroyed with his castle but everything that did remain my department tracked down and confiscated."

"Apparently not" Stern answered

"Well" Dr. Whitefeather said, a little flustered "I suppose I should say we're in the process of gathering it all. The remains of his Robot Masters, as well as those he contrasted alongside Dr. Light and then corrupted, are being held safely in a government facility."

"I see. Well if I was this…what'd you call 'em, Genesis something?"

"The Genesis Unit" Mega Man answered "They do seem to have odd names."

"Yeah but I'm getting at something else. If these really are the last three Wily robots in the world, I imagine that facility looks mighty tempting to break into. I'm betting that's the planned phase two after dealing with Mega Man here."

"You make a good point Agent Stern" Dr. Whitefeather answered "but the facility in question is a fortress. I can't say much but there's more than just Wily tech contained in those walls."

"Yeah like robotics experiments of the governments, I'd wager. You didn't exactly just decrease it's desirability, Doc."

Dr. Whitefeather looked concerned but Mega Man said "I'll just have to make sure this all ends in phase one."

"You certainly have a good track record in that department" Stern said with a slight smile "Here we are. Good luck you guys but try not to cause too much trouble. You know well that I'm not above intervening in collateral damage to these robot situations."

Mega Man remembered when Agent Stern had been in charge of the unit placing Dr. Light under house arrest. He had used a magnet beam to short out the equipment of police and the army alike so they wouldn't get involved with the battle with Ice Man. It had been done to prevent injuries or worse to those men and women but the authorities hadn't been entirely forgiving.

"I'll do my best sir. Thanks for the ride."

Stern nodded and drove off as soon as they were out of the car. Mega Man and Dr. Whitefeather waved him off and entered the main building. They were surprised to see Guts Man and Bomb Man waiting in the lab.

"Hey guys" Mega Man said in confusion "what are you doing here?"

"In town for a job" Guts Man answered "A major demolition project where he brings the place down and I clear it up."

"We thought we'd stop in and hang out for a while" Bomb Man said "but as I was searching the radio for some party tunes, the news really killed the vibe."

"This is spreading fast" Mega Man said

"Well think about it this way" Dr. Whitefeather said "Right or wrong, most people were probably relieved, overjoyed even, at Dr. Wily's demise. This attack from robots claiming to be his would stir up a lot of fear."

"Yeah but the real point is what are we gonna do about it?" Guts Man said "Count us in because this is much more important than any job."

"True that" Bomb Man agreed.

"I told everyone I'm handing this alone and I meant it" Mega Man said firmly

"Don't be that way" Bomb Man said "We Light Numbers are a team!"

"We were there for you in Wily's Castle that one time and we'll be there for you this time."

"That time there was…ok well there was a hostage…" Mega Man tried to explain his feelings but Guts Man cut in."

"Yeah some hostage; it was just Senator Camp the robot hater."

"I can't wait to hear what he says about this mess" Bomb Man said sarcastically

"He's still a person and we were there to save him" Mega Man said

"And we did" Bomb Man said with a grin

"Yes but this is different. Dr. Wily was directing things then and this Buster Rod character seems like a nasty piece of work. I think it's best if we play by their rules for now."

"You seem to forget that Wily was a nasty piece of work himself" Guts Man said but Mega Man didn't look amused

"I think Mega Man's plan is a good one" Dr. Whitefeather said "We can guide him from here and you two can be kept in reserve if you're needed later."

"I guess so" Bomb Man said "I just can't stand being left out of the party like this."

"Yeah but I think I get it" Bomb Man said

"We'll also try to contact the others" Guts Man said "I think their all busy in the field though."

"Thanks"

"Now let's see" Dr. Whitefeather said sitting down at the main computer "Let's get logged on here and see if they've contacted us yet."

Mega Man helped him access the computer and sure enough a new program was there waiting for them. It was a map of Asia with glowing dots in certain remote areas.

"This is like Wily's first revenge attempt with Quick Man and the others" Mega Man observed "It seems to be linked to the teleport system meaning I click and I'm there."

"Don't click anything yet" Guts Man said

"Why not?" Mega Man asked

Guts Man rolled his eyes and said "Seriously dude? There is a very obvious way we can still help you, even be with you in a way."

"Are you really going into the unknown without our mad skills?" Bomb Man added

"Oh of course, thanks guys."

"No problem" Guts Man said extending his hand "One for all…"

"And all for one" Bomb Man added as he placed his hand on top of Guts Man's

Mega Man added his own hands to the pile and absorbed the data on their special abilities. Now he could use Strong Arm, the technical term for Guts Man's super strength and Bomb Man's Hyper Bombs.

Before they could break apart, Dr. Whitefeather placed his hand in the mix as well "It may be a little cheesy but the Three Musketeers actually had four members. Let's bring Thomas, Roll, and Rush back home safely, team!"

"Yeah" Mega Man said as he pulled away and turned to the screen. "They're not labeled and I don't really want to try to decipher any clues right now. I have to fight them all in the end so let's just go for it."

Mega Man reached out and touched on of the map points at random. His friends watched as he dissolved into blue light and vanished.


	3. Bats, Boulders, and BugsOh My!

Bats, Boulders, and Bugs…Oh My!

Mega Man materialized in a very dim place and had to adjust his vision. It soon became apparent that he was in an earthen tunnel. Support beams every few yards indicated that the place wasn't altogether natural. He mused it was probably a mine shaft and himself to spy a dead end.

"Well that takes care of which way to…ahhhh" he ducked as a heavy ball on a chain whirled over his head. He looked to see a bulky green robot open its single eye and begin to swing another ball. "These guys again; I believe Dr. Light called them Hammer Joes."

"What did you say?" Dr. Whitefeather said in a faint voice through the radio "The signal seems faint."

"That's probably because I'm underground. Hold on a second…" Mega Man said as he dodged another ball and fired some well timed plasma into the robot's eye. "Ok I'm back."

"It's still a bit faint. Did you say underground?"

"Yeah, I'm in a dark tunnel and something has already tried to kill me. It feels pretty standard really."

"It's a little sad that you can say that."

"Nah" Guts Man said "It just shows that this will be a piece of cake for him."

"I hope you didn't just jinx me" Mega Man said "Ok I'm heading deeper in now. Wish me luck guys."

"You don't need luck" Bomb Man said "You're absolutely mega, my man!"

"Leave the puns to Cut Man" Mega Man said with a smile as he turned a corner.

He quickly found himself at a crossroads at the base of a vertical shaft. He peered down the other tunnels to discover two things: they were blocked off and also each held a Hammer Joe already swinging their heavy projectiles.

"Any chance you guys could just hit each other?" He received his answer when they began taking turns to launch the balls and dodging the friendly fire. "I guess not" Mega Man said as he ducked and dodged.

He popped up to blast one of the enemy robots but immediately was slammed in the back by one of the balls. Cursing his poor timing, he ducked back down and considered his options. He dared not use Hyper Bomb unless necessary in case of a cave in. He looked up and noticed a series of platforms attached to the wall of the shaft.

Choosing his timing much more carefully, Mega Man leapt onto one of the platforms and turned to face another one. He gasped as the platform opened under his feet and he crashed back to the ground. He was battered by ball and chains as he struggled to stand up. He activated Strong Arm and picked up a rock. This he then hurled at a Hammer Joe and disabled it. Reacting to this, the other two were thrown off in their timing and a Hammer Joe took a metal ball to the "face." Mega Man quickly blasted the remaining one and took out the second as it attempted to recover.

"That was pretty cool" Mega Man said as a verbal pat on the back to himself "Now for this brand of annoying."

He studied the shaft for a moment and plotted a course. Carefully but quickly, he jumped onto the first platform and then the next. He hesitated for just a second and fell all the way back to the ground. "I should have looked around the lab for the data for Item 3." Mega Man muttered as he tried again.

After a few attempts, he finally reached the top of the shaft. The topmost platform was just below the ledge so he began to climb up only to have his hand stomped. Mega Man clung with his remaining hand and looked up to see a strange robot with a round body and two legs. Its single eye glared at him as it rolled onto the other hand. Mega Man winced but managed to hold on. The eye robot was carried a few feet away by its momentum and Mega Man quickly climbed up while already shooting. The eye robot was destroyed and Mega Man took a step away from the edge.

"Sorry but I am not dealing with those things again…ugh!" another eye robot rolled right where he had just been standing. Had he not moved while shooting its friend, he would have been knocked back over the edge. "Hey you…eyes…I was invited here so stop being rude."

After a few minutes, he dealt with all of the eye robots and continued down the tunnel. He tried to raise Dr. Whitefeather again but the radio didn't respond at all. "Hello? Hello?" Mega Man said but all he got was some vague static with what may have been words mixed in. "Ok, I guess I'm used to doing this on my own anyway."

The tunnel seemed to be getting narrower and Mega Man heard something shift in the shadows. As he was looking, a large needle-like device unfolded from the inches from him. As it retracted back into the rafters, a cloud of metal bats descended upon him. Mega Man backed away from the bats and right into a pair of needles. He instantly turned and became as flat as possible as they passed on either side of him. The bats continued to swarm and bite at him; their teeth shocked him painfully whenever they made contact.

Mega Man continued his slow way down the tunnel swatting at bats and dodging needles form the above. He occasionally cried out in shock and pain with the sound echoing down the tunnel. To his surprise, he realized another sound was echoing back to him.

"Rush?!" he called out

The squeaking of the bats made it difficult to be sure but he thought he heard a bark answer him. Inspired by this sign that his dog was ok, Mega Man continued down the tunnel more quickly than before. The bats put on speed as well but this caused them to start bumping into each other and made things even easier on him. He dodged a few more needles and saw a wall of them dropping head of him. Mega Man didn't drop speed but he did drop to the floor and slide under the needles.

They didn't rise back up behind him but rather stayed in place like a locked gate. He was now in a largish crossroads in the tunnels with a large two legged robot. It rose up causing its visor to also raise and expose its vulnerable eyes. Mega Man had dealt with one of these before and new that it wasn't a good time to attack. It leapt at him and Mega Man rolled underneath it and got to his feet. He glanced around to see that the other tunnels leading off of this chamber were also blocked.

"Figures" Mega Man said as the beast hopped in place to turn itself around. Mega Man blasted its eyes before it could settle down again and the robot seemed to flinch a little. His next blast fizzled harmlessly on the visor. It jumped at him again and Mega Man slide under it and repeated his attack. This process was effective but slow and debris was starting to fall as the robot jumped around.

Suddenly Mega Man had an idea; he activated strong arm and picked up the largest fallen stone he could find. He waited until the robot was facing him and he hurled it at the visor. The thick material cracked deeply and Mega Man watched pieces fall away as it jumped at him again. Mega Man smiled and fired plasma to his hearts delight. The robot tried to attack back but was soon sitting dead in the middle of the room with smoke pouring out of it.

"Thank you Guts Man" Mega Man said as the needle gates opened "You've helped me out twice now."

Mega Man peered down the tunnels but there were no clues as to where to go. He called out again to Rush and the dog's barked a loud response. The echoes made things a bit difficult but the blue robot's keen ears sensed the source down a tunnel to his left. Mega Man continued on his way, occasionally having to blast more bats out of the air. As he was dealing with one above his head, a heavy object hit him in the stomach.

"Ouch!" Mega Man cried as he landed on his backside. He looked up to see a lumpy figure that looked more like a pile of rocks than a robot. It already had another large stone in its hands and hurled it at him.

Mega Man rolled to the side and stood up. He fired at the assailant but his plasma merely destroyed another stone in midair. Mega Man slide under the next one and fired at the confused robot from the ground. Another robot stepped out of the shadows but Mega Man was ready for this one and dispatched it quickly.

"This place isn't so bad" he said as he continued "a little annoying but not…bad" The last word was more of a squeak. He was at the edge of a deep ravine with only a maze of ladders on the wall next to him a way across. "Ok, this could be bad."

Seeing no alternative, Mega Man carefully climbed onto the nearest ladder and tried not to look down as he made his way across the deep pit "Ironically, I'm on my way to rescue the one who could be a lot of help here."

He reached for the next ladder and screamed as he received a fierce shock. He squinted through darkness that made even night vision hard to use and saw a metal bug scurrying up and down the ladder. Mega Man steadied himself on his own ladder and glimpsed another bug above him. Moving more quickly than was prudent, he made his way onto the ladder next to him and kicked downwards with all the strength he could muster. He felt the shock surge through his body upon connection but the bug was knocked off. He listened and it was several seconds before he heard it hit bottom.

"Oh that's deep" Mega Man said as he scanned the next ladder for interfering insects. Seeing none, he climbed onto the ladder and continued the slow, sometimes painful journey. He spotted a solid ledge not far away and moved nearer to it. At that moment, a bug crawled down with amazing speed knocked him off. Mega Man flailed in the air and just barely grasped the bottom rung. Knowing he had seconds before the bug reached him, he fired upwards and smiled as it burst apart.

The flash illuminated the area enough to show him that bottoms of the ladders were currently clear and he took his chance. He rapidly moved from run to run feeling a little like a monkey and jumped. He landed in a heap, undignified but safe.

"I made it" he said with joy. A little louder he called out "I'm coming boy, hang on."

Rush barked but this time he was cut off. "Stop doing that you mutt" a deep voice rumbled towards him from not far away.

"You better not hurt him, Hyper Storm S!" Mega Man shouted back

"Come and stop me" the deep voice countered with a snort. He heard a metal clang and Rush whined.

"You asked for it!"

Mega Man ran forward and found a strange site. He stood at the edge of a very large hole; the ceiling above was filled with smaller holes and a heavy chain extended from the middle. There was light below as well as more sounds of Rush whining so Mega Man made a decision. He switched off night vision, jumped onto the chain, and began to slide down. It didn't take long for him to land on something solid with a bit of a bump. Mega Man realized that he was on top of a large cage and Rush was barking happily from inside.

"Rush!" Mega Man reached through the bars and patted his beloved dog on the head. "I'm so happy to see you, boy."

"Get your hands off my dog!" Hyper Storm H demanded

Mega Man's face hardened as he looked down. The room below was empty except for the large robot but the walls were lined with lethal looking spikes.

"He's not your dog" Mega Man coldly replied as he reached for the lock. Hyper Storm jumped in anger and the room shook. The cage swung wildly and Mega Man fell to the ground. "That's better! The others said I could have a pet and gave him to me. He's been a very bad dog though and is in time out right now."

"Funny, he so sweet with me" Mega Man said in mock confusion "Maybe it's because you're so ugly."

"Say that to my face you little runt!"

"Um, I kind of just did."

"Oh"

"It doesn't look like your little trio is about to lose much in the way of brains."

"Yeah well you're…you're blue!"

"So are you"

"Yeah but…I'm a prettier shade."

"Oh let's just do this."

"Fine with me!"

Both struck offensive poses and Rush watched as the battle began.


	4. The Pig in the Pit

The Pig in the Pit

Mega Man struck first with a hail of plasma bullets. Hyper Storm H grunted as they hit but it didn't seem to be doing significant damage. Hyper Storm opened his large mouth and Mega Man was hit by a gust of wind. The loose dirt on the floor offered little traction and the surprised hero was sliding backwards towards the spike walls. Mega Man dropped to the floor and crawled under the wind while shooting.

"Ha! You look so silly crawling in the dirt, blue boy." Hyper Storm jumped in place and the whole chamber shook again. Mega Man bounced painfully and came to a stop looking into the eyes of a Met.

"Hello…"

The mechanized hard hat responded by opening its mouth and shooting him in the face. Mega Man fired back but it dropped beneath the hard hat and the plasma was useless. Mega Man felt other Mets crowding around and firing so he stood up quickly and began shooting at them. Most had already defended themselves while Hyper Storm's laughs echoed throughout the pit.

"This is hilarious!"

"Yeah I guess it is hilarious that you had to rig the battlefield to get help." Mega Man said as he patiently took out the Mets "Can't take me on alone?"

"You talk pretty big for such a puny little nothing!" Hyper Storm jumped at Mega Man who barely dodged and was knocked down by the resultant quake. On top of that the holes high above dropped more Mets. Mega Man scrambled to his feet quickly while taking hits from the Mets. He patiently started blasting them while Hyper Storm began blowing him towards the wall again. Mega Man tried to slide under the breath but was stopped dead by a Met.

"I guess those things are invincible when covered" Mega Man muttered. Hyper Storm adjusted his aim downward and Mega Man tumbled across the floor. Desperate not to suffer the severe damage those spikes could cause, Mega Man activated Strong Arm and punched the ground. Using his embedded fist as an anchor, Mega Man waited until Hyper Storm took a breath. He stood up and fired upon the hog while kicking aside the Mets as they stood up.

"Oof…not bad kid" Hyper Storm said as he stepped out of the way of the plasma hail.

"Well this isn't my first rodeo, you know."

"Wait, you were in a rodeo?

"Buster Rod G must have a lot of fun with you."

"Yeah he's great! He and I have a lot of fun!"

"I think he's making fun of you, not having fun with you."

Hyper Storm stomped causing Mega Man to wobble and Rush to whimper. He grunted "Look, the others may sometimes play cruel pranks and say mean things but they're my friends!"

"Yeah sounds like it…then again Buster did have a morbid sense of humor. It may be genuine affection."

"You can confuse me with big words!"

"That wasn't even my intent" Mega Man said as Hyper Storm jumped again. This time Mega Man was ready and he timed a jump of his own right as the hog touched down. This meant he was in the air during the most violent vibrations and he was able to stay on his feet. He grabbed one of the Mets as it fell and he threw it at Hyper Storm.

"Ahhh, get it off me!" he screamed as he flailed and tried to get the Met off his head. His flailing had the side-effect of shaking the chamber and causing more to fall.

"Will you stop summoning these things?" Mega Man asked irritably as he tried to deal with the swarm of hard hats.

"It's all set up on auto…uh, auto…it does it by itself when the place shakes."

"Well then" Mega Man said as he dodged one met and blasted another "it would be nice if you stopped shaking the place."

"Hey I'm large and in charge!" he shouted the last word with a blast of wind that sent Mega Man backwards towards the spiked walls. He was saved only by tripping over a Met.

"Well that's ironic" he said

"Did you just call me moronic?" Hyper Storm asked angrily

"Not that time I didn't" Mega Man responded while getting up and shooting the hard hat that had saved him

"Oh well let me thank you with a hug" Hyper Storm activated his gale force breath again but this time he pulled Mega Man toward him. The surprised hero didn't react in time and found himself in Hyper Storm's strong embrace. "A nice tight hug"

Mega Man's grunts turned quickly to screams as his metal body felt the strain. Rush barked wildly and gnawed at his cage in an attempt to get free and help his master. Hyper Storm shouted "Shut up mutt!" while squeezing harder.

Mega Man, using Gut's Man's power yet again, fought against the painful embrace. Both grunted and groaned in the struggle but Mega Man finally pushed the hogs arms back far enough to wiggle free. He immediately punched Hyper Storm with Strong Arm still active. The massive pig cried out and stumbled back against the spiked walls.

"Ouchie! That really hurts!"

"Then stop trying to make me hit them."

"It would be funny then." Hyper Storm released another gale of breath to get Mega Man farther from him and closer to the wall opposite. This was stronger than any winds before and Mega Man had difficulty sliding. Finally he just rolled awkwardly to the side and again when Hyper Storm followed. Finally the mechanical lungs ran out of ammo and Mega Man was able to stand up and begin a hail of plasma shots.

"You may be a simple fighter but you're tough" Mega Man said

"Stop calling me stupid!" Hyper Storm said as he tried to crush Mega Man with another long jump.

"I didn't, I just meant…ahh" Mega Man slide out of the way and was badly rattled as the ground shook. Rush swung wildly and Mets fell again. Meanwhile, Hyper Storm was stomping his way towards Mega Man still trying to crush him.

"It's not nice to call people simple!"

"Well you've got to admit that you're fighting style is pretty basic" Mega Man said as he again dealt with Mets.

"You're pretty basic!" Hyper Storm jumped again but Mega Man slid under him. Yes he was jostled and still more Mets fell but he was now behind the Robot Master and able to attack from there. Trying to conserve what little Strong Arm energy remained, he used more plasma. "Yeouch! You shot me in the butt!"

"Crude but effective" Mega Man replied as dealt with the Mets. He suddenly had an idea. As one hard hat popped up to attack, Mega Man actually picked it up and waited as Hyper Storm quickly turned around. He opened his mouth and Mega Man hurled the Met into it. For added measure, Hyper Storm had been inhaling so he slurped the squirming hard hat right down and it rammed deep in his mouth.

"Mulf?!" was all Hyper Storm managed to say while Rush barked and wagged his tail excitedly.

"Yeah boy it was pretty good. Now let's see what I get from this big boy" Mega Man hurried over and touched Hyper Storm "I'm guessing the wind power…wait…nothing!?"

Hyper Storm managed to blow out the Met and grabbed Mega Man's wrist. "Yeah you are nothing!"

He lifted Mega Man up and hurled him across the room. Mega Man screamed as he slammed into the wall and he fell to the floor with scratches and dents all over. "Well, that could have been worse"

"You want worse? Ok!"

The hog attempted to blow Mega Man, who was still on the ground, back into the spikes. Mega Man had to slowly and painfully crawl along the ground to get away from the painful wall. Rush continued to bark up above but Mega Man couldn't help him at the moment. He was still confused as to why he couldn't absorb anything from Hyper Storm but now wasn't the time for that either. He took a chance and aimed a plasma shot right into Hyper Storm's eye.

"Owie!" Mega Man took the chance to stand up and a new idea came to him. He thought he'd have to wait for his moment but it came right away. "Come here and see what I do to your eyes!"

The pig began to violently inhale but Mega Man was ready. He instantly aimed a Hyper Bomb and Hyper Storm's eyes grew wide as it sailed into his mouth. He slammed his mouth shut so Mega Man couldn't do that again but a second later he jolted violently while smoke poured from multiple places.

"No thanks" the stunned robot master said "That's too spicy."

"And you're too tough" Mega Man said in surprise "I can't believe you're still standing after that."

"And still fighting fit" Hyper Storm said as he shook his head and focused again on the battle.

Other than creaking a little bit, he did seem ready to keep going. He reached Mega Man in a series of leaps that summoned yet more hard hats. Mega Man saw Hyper Storm pull back his fist and he just barely dodged to the side. The hog punched the wall and got his hand stuck between the spikes.

"Huh, that's not good"

"Works for me" Mega Man said as he fired on the pig but then had to turn is attention away as a Met shot him in the back. He turned to take out the hard hats and this gave Hyper Storm the chance to free himself. Just as Mega Man finished off the Mets, he was struck hard in the back and tumbled across the floor. Hyper Storm was still posing after the punch and looking triumphant.

"Got ya punk!"

"Good for you. I don't suppose we could say we both did well, call it a draw, and peacefully go home, could we?" Hyper Storm stomped the ground and began violently exhaling "I didn't think so"

Mega Man kept ahead of the deadly wind with a series of rolls across the ground. Every chance he got, he would fire upon Hyper Storm who would do little to defend himself but not slow down. He wanted to try the bomb trick again but he was sure the pig wouldn't give him that chance again. Well, not without some encouragement.

"Nice endurance, Hyper Storm, seriously you are well built."

"Well…thanks"

"Yeah but you'll never beat me this way. I'm tough too and I'll eventually wear you down."

"Oh yeah?" He jumped but so did Mega Man who was already blasting the resultant Mets.

"Yeah. Of course I may die of boredom if this goes on too long."

Hyper Storm angrily exhaled but Mega Man slide beneath it and fired plasma down his throat. The hog stomped the ground in anger but Mega Man was improving the timing of his own jumps so he maintained his balance. All the while he kept blasting the hog who seemed to be slowing down just a little.

"You annoying blue, er, thing! I'll squeeze you into scrap metal!"

Blinded by anger, Hyper Storm inhaled while was the perfect timing to cause him to swallow a Hyper Bomb. The hog shook violently and keeled over.

"Whew" Mega Man said in relief "I'm glad that worked. Now to get Rush out of there."

He jumped off of Hyper Storm's large body to reach the cage. The happy dog waited somewhat impatiently while Mega Man used Gut's Man's strength to pull the cage door open. Rush tackled him with affection and they tumbled back to the ground.

"Yeah I'm happy you're free too boy" Mega Man said

"Let go…of my…dog" Hyper Storm said as he struggled to stand up

"Oh my gosh; two bombs in the gut and still ticking."

"I'll…crush you!"

Rush growled at Hyper Storm but simply turned into his jet mode. "Good idea boy, let's get out of here."

As they circled higher and higher, Mega Man glanced down at Hyper Storm. He kind of hated it but he couldn't let the robot go on and cause more trouble. "Catch" Mega Man shouted back

"Huh? Hey I caught it" Hyper Storm looked again at the bomb in his hand and said to Mega Man "I hate you so much."

There was an explosion below and Mega Man waited to see if he could hear any more movement in the smoke and dust. After a minute, it was clear that Hyper Storm H was down for the count.

"Now let's find the way out of here" Mega Man said as Rush gleefully sailed through the tunnels.


	5. Labyrinth of Water

Labyrinth of Water

"Ok, maybe I'm not ready to make my own Robot Master" Dr. Whitefeather said as he attempted to patch up Mega Man "You are one complicated little guy."

"You're doing fine" Mega Man smiled up at him

"Thanks but mainly because of your help."

"Well when Mega Man is not needed, I become the mild mannered lab assistant named Rock so I know a few things."

"Right" Dr. Whitefeather said with a chuckle "I just wouldn't mind another pair of hands right now, even if it was just Guts Man and Bomb Man sticking around."

"I love those guys but I'm not sure they'd make the best, shall we say, nurses."

"True. Who we really need is…" He paused at the look on Mega Man's face "You'll find them Rock, I know you will." Mega Man simply nodded and Dr. Whitefeather went on "Still...just thinking out loud but another lab assistant robot wouldn't be a bad idea."

"That's certainly true. Even putting aside robot battles and kidnappings, we are getting rather busy these days."

"You're welcome" Dr. Whitefeather said in reference to the work of his department "Well I think you're back to fighting fit."

Mega Man stood up and moved about experimentally. "Great job Dr. Whitefeather!"

"Aw shucks."

Mega Man stopped flexing his joints and looked serious. "It's time to get back to it."

"You're sure that you're ready?"

"I have to be; Roll and Dr. Light are still captured."

"Ok well you should take Rush with you."

"Of course; what if we got cut off again and you couldn't send him to me?"

"That wouldn't be good. My goodness, when you went radio silent I got scared. I was so relieved when we finally reestablished contact."

"You sure seemed that way. Now two robots left."

They wandered over to the main terminal and looked at the teleport map. One light had gone out but two more were still blinking. "Here goes nothing" Mega Man said as he kept a hand firmly on Rush's head and picked a blinking point with the other. Again Dr. Whitefeather was alone in the lab.

Halfway around the world, Mega Man and Rush landed on a flat stone in the middle of a flowing river. Moving carefully on the slippery surface, they observed that they were lush mountain forest and the river was flowing into a cave. That seemed to be the obvious way to go but Mega Man didn't want to assume anything.

"Be on the lookout boy; these guys can be tricky." Rush gave him a look and Mega Man laughed "Of course, you already know that."

Rush suddenly looked serious and he growled at the water. A second later Mega Water S stuck his head out of it. "You look disappointed; were you expecting Mr. King Monkey?" Seeing Mega Man's expression he said "Well he can certainly act like it sometimes."

"I don't care about that; where is my family?"

"Certainly not right here. You'll have to follow along for that and play the game."

"What game?" Mega Man's words were lost as the mechanical kappa was again under the water and moving downstream. "I suppose it's into the cave after all" Mega Man said.

Rush nodded and turned into a jet. It took them no time at all to find Mega Water S standing at the edge of a subterranean lake. "Why didn't you just teleport me in here right away?"

"It's not as easy to get a signal in these tunnels; you may also discover some radio issues" Mega Man checked his radio to find a very faint signal while the robot looked contemplative "Also the forest is quite lovely. Didn't you enjoy it?"

"Um, well now that you mention it…wait so are we going to fight or not?"

"How barbaric to cut right to the violence" he answered "Is it not true that you usually do a lot of running around and shooting things first? Well now you have a reason. Your sister is somewhere in these caves, find her."

Before Mega Man or Rush could do anything, Mega Water leapt smoothly into the lake and quickly vanished from view. "So Roll is here. Let's go find her"

Rush barked but neither of them moved. There didn't seem to be any obvious ways out of the cavern and Mega Water had gone into the lake so it seemed the only way to go. "It looks like it was a good think I brought you after all as you're the one who can really swim."

Rush nodded and morphed into Marine mode. Soon they were in the lake and looking around. Mega Man saw a cave and directed Rush towards it. Even with night vision, the dark water concealed its secrets well and they almost slammed right into a giant shrimp.

"Woah" Mega Man said as Rush did a sort of loop to avoid it. Inserting his buster into the slot in front of him, Mega Man fired through Rush's mouth at the shrimp and it was soon scrap. However, the water was filling with them and Rush whined as one brushed painfully against him.

"We'll have to work together to deal with this" Mega Man said and Rush nodded. Slowly they worked their way through the shrimp and found a huge angler fish near a tunnel. The fish was spitting the shrimp enemies out of its mouth and the duo knew who their real target was.

Rush was already maneuvering through the pack of shrimp and he shot through a gap so quickly that Mega Man was jostled around inside the clear tank. He kept his composure though and began to fire as Rush circled the fish. The downside of this strategy was that coming full circle put them in the middle of its annoying spawn. The beasts swarmed all around and began picking at Rush. Mega Man was trying to figure out what to do when Rush arrived there first. He shot forward and rammed the fish in the eye. The resultant hole sparked when the wiring hit the water and a simple plasma shot was all that was needed to make the creature blow up. This scattered the shrimp and Rush made right for the tunnel.

"That was excellent, Rush!" and the dog grinned. Their faces turned into panic as they spotted a water mine floating not far from them and Rush put on the brakes. Mega Man's head hit the glass but it could have been a lot worse.

"That could have been a lot worse. Let's just take it slowly."

Rush did just that and they were doing fine until there was a sudden blast behind them. In the chaos, Mega Man figured out that at least one of the shrimp had tried to follow them and had hit the original mine. Rush was fighting to avoid the others but ultimately brushed against one. The second blast again violently stirred things up and they duo were thrown like a pinball down the tunnel. Suddenly Rush surfaced and they both just sat for a minute.

"Are you ok, boy? That was pretty rough." Rush barked to answer yes but not with a lot of gusto. Mega Man observed they were in a pool in a medium sized cavern with tunnels branching off. "It looks like we're back to walking…for now."

Rush swam to the edge of the pool and they were quickly both back on their feet. Rush listened and sniffed the ground but apparently couldn't pick up a scent. Mega Man simply turned on the spot while saying "Eenny, meeny, that one." Rush glanced at him but followed loyally.

The tunnel was dark and damp but there were no signs of enemies. Mega Man was on red alert and jumped when he heard something shift above him. He looked up but there was nothing there. Rush seemed unsettled as well, his nose kept twitching and he was looking in every direction. Mega Man was more focused on a possible ambush and walked right into a wall.

"Dead end; I….ahhhh!" Mega Man and Rush both reacted in fear and shock as a swarm of spy bats swooped from the shadows. As he flailed and tried to knock the pests off of him, Mega Man spotted the mouth of the tunnel and noted that it was now smaller. He realized a door was lowering to seal them in and ran with Rush on his heels. He slid under the barrier and Rush scrambled under so narrowly that his tail was dented a bit as the door sealed.

"That wasn't right" Mega Man said as he stood back up. He caught sight of Rush's expression and said "Ok, you pick the next the tunnel."

Rush gave him a dignified nod and began walking slowly around the room with his ears perked. Mega Man took a step and the sound echoed around the tunnels. Rush shot him a look and Mega Man froze. The dog continued to concentrate and take only the lightest of movements. Suddenly he pointed with whole body down a certain tunnel and barked.

"You're sure about that one? Then let's go!"

They began making their way down the tunnel. Mega Man could tell it was longer than the last and he hoped they were now on the right track. He hoped that Roll was alright and he was anxious to find her quickly. These and other thoughts were interrupted by more shuffling and squeaking. Immediately, Mega Man and Rush looked up but couldn't find any bats.

Suddenly, Mega Man felt something shock his foot and Rush yelped as well. A series of small shocks made Mega Man dance on the spot and he finally spotted the culprit; tiny robot frogs were hoping out of the puddles and onto them.

"First a swarm from above and now one from below…" Mega Man muttered as he kicked and stomped at the little pests. As he finally managed to reduce their numbers a little, more popped out of the pools. Mega Man looked in one; it was deeper than he initially thought and a large frog was sitting in it spawning the little frogs. Mega Man, ignoring the little shocks from the babies, pointed his buster and took out the mama. He repeated this with the other pools and indicated to Rush they should keep moving before something else attacked.

They came to a fork in the road and Rush began listening again. The dog yelped as plasma struck him in the side and a Met was already retreating behind a rock. Mega Man was fed up with Mets by now and went after it with buster at the ready. As he did, another Met shot him in the back. Mega Man turned to deal with it but the first shot him. Already caught in this loop, he was frustrated to see more popping up.

"I really don't like these things!" he fumed while shooting at them the best he could. Just as a Met was about to shoot him, Rush tackled it and dealt with it before it could retreat under it' helmet. This allowed Mega Man a chance to take out some others and soon the area was clear.

"Thanks again boy, you just keep saving me"

Rush looked appreciative but quickly returned to deducing the correct path. He nodded down the left fork and Mega Man let him lead the way. This tunnel was quite damp and soon they duo found themselves wading through a shallow stream. Mega Man felt sure that couldn't be this tunnel's whole gimmick and he was right. Ahead of them they discovered a colony of robots, between one and two feet tall, resembling hermit crabs. They were ambling about lazily but suddenly homed in on Mega Man and Rush and swarmed.

"I'm sensing a theme of small but annoying down here" Mega Man said as the crab bots began to nip at his heals with sharp, electric legs. Rush was gnawing on of the robots and lifted it off the ground. A second later, the body came free of the shell and dropped back into the water. The robot began ramming and attacking Rush's legs with newfound speed. The dog dropped the shell and began snapping at the small but painful crab-bot.

"Wait, stand still" Mega Man said and he then blasted the crab-bot. As he did, several of them attacked his feet. Mega Man jumped and kicked a shell off of one who also suddenly doubled in speed. His flailing kicked more shells off and soon most of the crabs were swarming about and zapping the duo. Mega Man kept blasting and almost hitting his own feet or Rush's in the attempt. Finally, Rush leapt a few feet away and nodded enthusiastically down the tunnel.

"Good idea" Mega Man said as he began to run.

He lacked Rush's four footed balance and kept sliding and being further hurt by the crab-bots. Ultimately, he fell into a slide and gained some real distance. He quickly found a flaw in his plan as the current carried him past a confused Rush. The tunnel began to slope downward and the water became deeper and swifter. He flailed around, trying to stop himself somehow but was at the mercy of the ever deepening water.

Finally the current began to even off but by now Mega Man was completely submerged. He managed to grab onto a rock and steady himself. He turned around and saw that a grill had closed behind him so even if Rush managed to follow the correct path, he wouldn't be able to get through. Hoping that Rush would be alright; Mega Man turned and began making his way down the watery passage.

There was very little light in the tunnel and his robotic eyes had to work to full capacity for Mega Man to see. He was looking everywhere for enemies, traps, and other tunnels. He became aware that the uneven ground no longer felt like stone. He was just realizing it was metal when a pair of arms shot up and held him in place. Mega Man screamed as energy surged through his body. The fact that he was underwater made the pain even worse and he struggled like mad to free himself.

Remembering he still had Guts Man's power, he forced the arms open and jumped away. As was usual in water, his artificial body was just buoyant enough to carrying him higher and farther than a normal jump. He landed on another pincer machine but immediately jumped again. He looked up as he did and began flailing his arms trying to get back down before he hit the spiked balls attached to the ceiling. He came within inches of the harmful spheres and touched back down.

He was on the edge between two pincer machines with both vainly trying to grab at him. Standing perfectly still, he waited for his moment and slid. The current, while not nearly as strong as before, still helped carry past all of the pincers before they could grab him.

He landed at yet another fork in the road and randomly decided to go left. Something was moving in the water ahead of him and he jumped to the side to avoid a metal penguin. It tried to turn around, overcompensated and hit a rock. He small put powerful explosion knocked Mega Man down and he narrowly avoided another penguin. Mega Man turned around and took the right fork this time but a penguin's had his scent. He managed to sense one coming and slid just in time to avoid it. He popped up and blasted it before turning around to blast another. In this manner, half running backwards, he managed to make good headway down the tunnel.

He reached a side tunnel and, hoping the penguins wouldn't follow him, he ran down it. He flattened himself against a wall and watched several confused birds sail right past him. Smiling, he continued down his new path. It was quite uneventful and he began to worry that he was walking into another trap. The ground was now sloping upward and there was light ahead. Growing a bit bolder, Mega Man picked up the pace and soon his head broke through the surface of the water.

He turned night vision off and observed a real change from the dark tunnels. He was in a sort of grotto; an open air area in the mountains with lush plants, rock walls on all sides, and deep pools all over the ground including the one he was standing in. He heard something shuffling nearby and gasped when he saw Roll sitting tied up and gagged in a cave with bars over it.

"Roll!" he splashed out of the pond and ran to her "I'll get you out of there."

"Not just yet, hero."

Mega Man looked up and saw Mega Water lounging on a flower covered ledge. "Isn't nature so nice? It makes me feel poetic. Water is lovely; pure, powerful, and so strong; always the winner."

"Did you just challenge me to a fight with a haiku?" Mega Man asked

"Yes and it wasn't a bad one if I do say so myself. I expected to have more time to compose if you even made it at all but your dog practically cheated at my maze. Finally I had to silence the girl so he'd stop hearing her. I wonder how he's doing without your blaster to aid him."

"He'll be fine" Mega Man said "Can the same be said for you?"

"Oh yes, it's time for our battle. I may not be as brutish as Hyper Storm H but I think I can handle you." Mega Water S jumped down to a ledge right over Mega Man's head and pointed his own buster. "En garde, Mega Man!"


	6. Clash with a Kappa

Clash with a Kappa

Mega Water posed like he was preparing for a duel with his arm cannon raised before him. Mega Man also raised his buster as a harpoon extended from Mega Water's. The kappa took swift aim and Mega Man jerked to the side a bit too slowly. He cried out as the weapon scraped his shoulder and sent a jolt through his whole body. He jumped again when he felt something slithering over his shoulder and he moved aside as the chain attached harpoon was returned to the arm cannon.

"Who needs molten plasma and lasers when old fashioned weapons will work just as well" Mega Water commented as he fired again.

Mega Man dodged and splashed into the edge of a pool. He stopped himself just in time for in the deepest part of the pool was a pit of very sharp spikes.

"As you can see Mega Man, the environment itself is my ally."

"You seem to have a lot of respect for nature and yet don't mind altering it."

"What? A few traps, a few minions here and there, all of which is easily cleared away. A far cry from what humans do to nature."

"So work to fix things, you don't have to be a killer."

"I am what I'm programmed to be. However fixing things, as you so simply put it, is on the agenda. My brothers and I will continue our father's dream of global conquest and put all to rights."

"And I'm in the way, right?"

"There is that, yes, but more importantly you killed Dr. Wily."

"Actually that could be debated…" Mega Man was cut off as Mega Water jumped down to his level and fired a jet of pure water at him. It didn't hurt but was strong enough to push him across the slippery ground toward the spikes. With a great effort, he rolled to the side and blasted at Mega Water. The plasma hit him in the side and Roll cheered through her gag.

"Well played" Mega Water said. Mega Man fired again but Mega Water took a defensive stance and a protective bubble formed around him "But you can't surprise me twice."

"A harpoon, a water cannon and water shield? More tricks that Hyper Storm had."

"He relied on raw strength and force. Water is more cunning and patient. Water always wins."

"Yeah you said something like that earlier but it didn't do Bubble Man or Pallas any good."

The shield dropped and the harpoon flew at him. Mega Man dodged to the side and almost lost his balance. Mega Water chuckled as he quickly retrieved the weapon and fired again. This time Mega Man slid under it and fired upon the kappa. Mega Water grunted in pain and quickly threw up his shield.

Mega Man took the opportunity to put some distance between himself and his foe. He (and Roll) screamed as a piercing pain struck him in the back. He looked over his shoulder to see the chain of the harpoon as well as Mega Water laughing softly.

"That's some rather thick skin you've got there but I'll pierce it soon."

"I'll just have to make sure you never hit the same place twice" Mega Man said as he turned around and also tried to feel the dent in his back.

"Oh is that a challenge? I suppose you can't safely turn your back to me then."

Trying not to think about this, Mega Man fired again but hit the water shield. He then ran to the side to attack while Mega Water tried to strike him. The plasma struck once but all subsequent shots missed when the robot master jumped up to a rocky ledge again. Mega Man kept on the move while firing as the harpoon kept flying. They were now engaged in a long range dance where neither was hurting the other.

"It would make my life a lot easier if you would stand still" Mega Man quipped

"I was just thinking the same thing" Mega Water replied

The kappa suddenly jumped down with his shield in place to protect him from Mega Man's attacks. He turned on his water cannon and Mega Man was pushed backwards. He gasped as he realized how close he was to a spike filled pond. He tried to dig in with his feet but the ground was too muddy and he slipped even faster. He was inches from the deadly points when he used a great effort to dive to the side. He landed safely on the ground but felt the harpoon scrap his shoulder as he got to his feet.

"Pity, I aimed a little too high. I won't make that mistake next time."

He fired again as Mega Man was getting up. He managed to side step it and lob a Hyper Bomb at Mega Water. The kappa's eyes grew wide as the sparking sphere landed at his feet and exploded. While Mega Water was stunned, Mega Man jumped up his own rock ledge and aimed his buster into the smoke. He fired but the shield was in force.

"I'm sorry to admit that I wasn't expecting that. I forgot about your other abilities. Too bad my brothers and I aren't designed in the traditional way, nothing for you to absorb."

"Not even the water cannon? That sounds like an awesome upgrade to Bubble Lead."

"I'm afraid not. Our weapons are simple yet effective, so simple there's nothing you can copy."

"So it wasn't just Hyper Storm then, that's no fun."

"Just as it's not very fun to simply talk when we could be fighting."

Mega Water launched a sudden harpoon strike and Mega Man reacted a bit slow. It struck him in the chest and left a pretty nasty dent.

"Again that thick skin saves you but I'll wear you down soon enough, Mega Man."

Mega Man threw another Hyper Bomb down at him but Mega Water used his water cannon to push it back. Mega Man had to jump back to the ground and slide away from debris from the blast. Mega Water launched another harpoon attack and Mega Man had to slide under to save himself.

"You made me part of that damage to this beautiful place. Now I'm angry!"

"Oh and you weren't before?" Mega Man quipped as he ran in a circle around the kappa to stay ahead of the harpoon. He also kept firing his buster and Mega Water took the hits while trying to get in a hit of his own.

After a minute or two of this, Mega Man stopped dead. The projectile flew at him and he rapidly stepped backwards while rolling a bomb like a bowling ball. Mega Water threw up his shield but still grunted as the explosion engulfed him. A jet of water shot out of the smoke and hit Mega Man in the face. The hero stumbled backwards and landed just inches from a spike filled pond.

"I really don't like what these bombs do to the landscape. If you keep making me angry, I just might have to let off some steam somehow."

He said this while looking towards the enclosure trapping Roll and Mega Man gasped. "You wouldn't!"

"Do you really want to find out?"

"I'm sure how the bombs affect the battle had no bearing on this attitude of yours?"

"If I win happen to win because I'm protecting the beautiful earth, then so be it."

"Yeah right…"

Another harpoon flew towards Mega Man who rolled to the side and fired back with plasma. He didn't dare try any more bombs with the threat to Roll hanging over him. One of the shots hit Mega Water in the shoulder and he grunted. His next harpoon went rather close to Roll.

"Oh no…you seem to have affected my aim on that one."

"Do you want a fight or not?"

"I'm thinking" was the sadistic reply

Mega Man simply growled in anger in response. He wasn't sure what to do now. Suddenly, a howl was heard over head and Rush flew out of one of the tunnels above them. All three robots stared in surprise as he circled back around and tackled Mega Water S.

"You contemptible canine!" the kappa screamed as he wrestled with the dog.

Rush bit and scratched everywhere he could reach while Mega Water tried to throw him off. Mega Man shouted his thanks to Rush and dashed to Roll's enclosure. He grabbed the bars and used Strong Arm to bend them. He then untied Roll and she instantly pulled the gag off of her mouth.

"Gosh, that's better!"

"I'm glad but we've got to get you out of here now. Rush will take you…"

"Forget that!" she interrupted while picking up a large rock "I'm not leaving without smacking this jerk around a little." She stepped forward before Mega Man could stop her and she shouted "Hey Rush, get out of the way!"

The dog got the message and moved. Mega Water sat up just in time to have the rock collide with his face. He reeled back and groaned with pain but Roll had already sent another rock sailing his way. Instinctively, he activated his shield but the rock was only slowed down a little before slamming into him. Mega Water immediately sent a jet of water Roll's way and knocked her down.

"I'm glad I tied you up, you insolent child."

"Ha! You use your big words and fancy phrases but you're just a thug!"

"Then I suppose I shouldn't feel bad about what I'm about to do to you."

Mega Water was back on his feet and firing a harpoon directly at Roll. Mega Man stepped in front of her and took the blow himself. The projectile broke through his metal skin and stuck there. Mega Man instantly grabbed it and used Strong Arm to first rip out the harpoon and then break the chain. Mega Water's eyes grew wide in shock but Mega Man simply raised his buster.

"I think it's time to end this" he said as he released a hail of plasma. Mega Water threw up his water shield, deflecting most of the blasts, but he found a bomb at his feet.

"Oh no…"

The explosion threw him into a rock wall and he crashed to the ground. Mega Man riddled him with more plasma and soon Mega Water's broken body could barely move. The kappa looked up at Mega Man but the blue hero didn't back down.

"I didn't start this, I didn't want this, but you messed with my family."

He fired a final blast and Mega Water S moved no more. Mega Man closed his eyes and wobbled a bit on his feet.

"Are you ok?" a stunned Roll asked

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just saw you almost get harpooned and I snapped."

"Thank you. I snapped a little there too. We both got pretty angry."

"Yeah."

They shared a cool down hug that was suddenly interrupted by Rush trying to join the embrace. Mega Man laughed and said "Let's go home."


	7. The Monkey King

The Monkey King

"And then Rock finished that stinking kappa off." Roll was saying "It was awesome."

"I'm sure it was" Dr. Whitefeather said as he worked at the computer "It would also be awesome if I could stop the radio from cutting out again next time."

"I'm used to working without supervision" Mega Man said before drinking deeply from an E Tank.

"I know but it's still disconcerting"

"Well soon we'll have Dr. Light home and both of you can figure it out together" Mega Man said.

"Yeah" Roll said "Of course then this mess will be over."

"Oh I try never to count my chickens before their…" Dr. Whitefeather stopped as his cell phone rang. "It's the office, I really should take this." The kids nodded at him and he answered as he stepped out of the room.

"You look like a mess" Roll said as she turned toward her brother again.

Mega Man choked a bit on his E Tank and said "Well thanks."

"All I meant is that the last battle roughed you up."

"I've looked worse. When Dr. Whitefeather gets back he'll patch me up and then it will be off to deal with Buster Rod G."

Roll's response was cut off by a series of noises from the computer. The teleport system was activating on its own. "What? No no no no…" she said as she rushed to the keyboard.

"Roll…" she didn't hear what Mega Man was going to say because he suddenly vanished in a blue flash.

* * *

Mega Man fell to the ground and gathered his senses. He seemed to be in another cave; he was getting tired of caves.

"Easy there" a high pitched voice said "Sudden unexpected teleportation could be a bit nasty." Mega Man looked up to see Buster Rod G sitting on a rock with his staff in one hand. "Hi"

"Hello. Was I taking too long to show up?"

"Yeah, I guess I was getting a bit impatient. I mean I'm glad that you felt I was worth saving for last but I'm ready to play."

"Fine let's get this over with" Mega Man said pointing his buster.

"Oh no no no no no" Buster Rod said with wide eyes "I said play, I don't want to crush you too quickly."

"And if I don't agree?"

"Then he suffers from more than your poor observational skills" Buster Rod said as he pointed behind Mega Man. The hero turned around and gasped in horror. A prison cell had been built into a side room of the cave with Dr. Light tied to a chair and gagged. He looked at Mega Man with pleading eyes but couldn't make a sound.

"Dr. Light! I'll get you out of there!"

"Touch those bars and the chair delivers pain" Buster Rod said. He somersaulted through the air and landed beside the seething Mega Man. "See?"

The mad monkey touched the bars with one finger and Dr. Light twitched in pain. He removed his finger and the twitching stopped. Buster Rod smiled as he repeated this action a few times.

"Stop it!" Mega Man screamed but he didn't attack Buster Rod. "Will you set him free if I play with you?"

"Well you see that is the game. This key will safely set him free" the monkey indicated a key on a chain around his neck "so catch me if you can!"

Buster Rod flashed Mega Man a wide grin and then jumped away. Mega Man watched him bounce down the tunnel and then turned back to Dr. Light. "I'll be back soon. I promise."

Dr. Light nodded and Mega Man gave chase. After a minute of running, Mega Man skidded to a stop at the edge of a long pit of spikes. Buster Rod was upside down on the ceiling and staring at him.

"I'm actually frowning so it will look like a smile. Is it working?"

"Not really"

"Dang. So why aren't you chasing? Oh that's right" he slapped himself in the forehead "I forgot to turn on the platforms. Just a minute…"

Buster Rod moved swiftly along the stalactites and soon sank into the shadows. Mega Man looked around in frustration but there seemed to be no path forward; just the spikes and some ominous looking pits. As he was pondering testing the depth of the pits, a platform (somewhat similar to his Item 1) rose from the nearest one in a slightly unsteady pattern. Mega Man instantly jumped onto it and noticed something for the first time. Among the rock formations above his head were more deadly looking spikes.

"He certainly decorated appropriately" Mega Man said to himself.

He noticed another platform rising ahead of him and he jumped onto it. Right after he did this, he noticed a small cloud floating directly toward him. He didn't trust it and decided to destroy it. His plasma shot disintegrated the cloud covering revealing a black missile that picked up speed. Mega Man dodged it and wobbled on the edge of the platform. He fell and barely grabbed the edge. It was now dangerously close to the ceiling so he began to swing himself and used the momentum to reach the next platform.

As he was steadying himself, he saw more cloud missiles in the air before him. The next platform was rising but he couldn't afford to hit the clouds while in the air. He turned sideways and jumped in that position. The missiles adjusted course but in their cloud form he had the speed advantage and was quickly on the next platform.

He could now see the end of the spikes with just a couple more jumps to go. The problem was that the missiles were increasing in number. Mega Man decided to simply clear the way and began blasting like crazy. The missiles exploded away from him and he made a gap large enough to jump to the next platform. He dove through the small gap and landed on the platform on his stomach. It wobbled and he almost pitched face first into the spikes.

He gasped loudly and struggled to right himself. He was sure he heard a high pitched giggling and something vanished into the shadows as he glanced up. He was now dangerously close to the ceiling with more clouds on their way. With little time to think or act, Mega Man gathered his strength and leapt right over the cloud missiles. They tried to turn around as he struggled to maintain his balance but they were slow and he was already making the final jump to solid ground.

"Thank goodness that's over" Mega Man said but he was wrong. He had failed to realize that those missiles were coming from somewhere and now a formation of them was coming at him from down the tunnel. "Ah nuts"

He had little space to make a running start but he barely managed to slide under the deadly clouds. He skidded to a stop with still a little more tunnel and more cloud missiles above him. Trying not to attract their attention, Mega Man scuttled like an awkward crab under them. Now the laughter was unmistakable but he ignored it and continued his slow but steady trek.

Soon Mega Man reached the end of the tunnel. A hole in the wall was producing the missiles and Buster Rod G was above him on a ladder.

"You look silly!"

"Well you look…simian."

"Oh what a great comeback; I think I'm paralyzed by that phenomenal comeback."

"You are really annoying!"

"Actually I am really…out of here!"

Buster Rod shot up the ladder and Mega Man was still on the floor trying not to get blown up. He noticed that there were occasional gaps in the pattern and he carefully waited before making a sudden leap for the ladder. His chest wound sparked a bit and he winced while climbing.

Soon he emerged at the top of a hill in a sunlit forest. Buster Rod was crouching in a tree branch with his usual smug grin. "You might not want to focus on me" the Robot Master warned.

Mega Man, still mostly in the hole, looked straight ahead and was eye to eye with a Met. "Hello…"

The hard hat responded by blasting Mega Man in the face. Buster Rod laughed so hard he almost fell out of his tree. Mega Man quickly pointed his buster at the Met and fired the next time it exposed its face. As he did this he felt something hit the back of his helmet. The hole was surrounded by Mets and he kept getting pelted by plasma as he climbed out. Mega Man began shooting at them but the helmets would always come down in time. Finally they were done away with and he was rushing at Buster Rod.

"Uh oh" the monkey said "he looks mad."

Mega Man raised his buster but was knocked over by a sudden wind. One of the "fan ape" robots from the battle with Air Man had emerged from a bush. Mega Man tried to get up but the fan reversed direction and slammed Mega Man onto his chest. Staying low to the ground, Mega Man fired several times directly into the fan and ended the gale force annoyance.

He looked up to see Buster Rod moon him and then leap away through the tree tops. Mega Man fired at him but a Spy Bat on a kamikaze mission shielded the robot master from the blast. Spy Bats were now emerging from all the trees. Mega Man fired but they were agile little monsters. He grunted as they began to swarm and painfully ram into him. Mega Man tried to run a ways down the hill to gain some distance on the bats but something wrapped around his leg and tripped him.

Mega Man looked back to see a green mechanical snake poking out of the ground. It looked similar to some of the enemies from Snake Man's asteroid. Before he could destroy it, the serpent had already vanished back into the ground. Mega Man started getting to his feet just in time for it to erupt from the ground and strike at his neck. Mega Man scuttled backwards still on all fours and felt bats on his back. He quickly rolled over and crushed them under his weight and then kept rolling to avoid the snake.

This idea turned out to be a mixed blessing; true he had killed some of the swarm and was moving away from the rest of them. The trouble was that gravity had taken over and now he was rolling down the hill. He tumbled in this manner for a few seconds before slamming hard into a tree. Mega Man sat up and felt something explode just above him. He saw a large rabbit shaped robot hopping towards him and firing exploding carrots from its mouth. On top of this more snakes were emerging from below and more bats from above.

"This is quite a show" Buster Rod said from above while Mega Man struggled to deal with all of the woodland terrors "I'm almost going to be sad to kill you…nah that'll be awesome."

"No…this is awesome" Mega Man said with a growl. He activated Strong Arm and punched the tree. The entire thing shook and Buster Rod fell to the ground.

"Get him, not me you idiots" the monkey screamed as the bats and rabbits began to attack him as well.

"You know" Mega Man said "It is kind of funny."

"Shut up!" Buster Rod said as he smoothly decapitated a rabbit with his staff. "Stupid incomplete codes…" he muttered as he took out a snake.

Soon Mega Man and Buster Rod G were the only robots left in the area. "You know what, Mega Man? I had more fun in store for you but let's just do this."

"Wow, you're suddenly in a bad mood."

"Yeah I guess I am. Killing you should cheer me up."

The end of his staff glowed and suddenly extended. Mega Man grunted as it got him right in the stomach and sent a harmful surge of energy through his body. Buster Rod did this again but aimed higher; the staff caught Mega Man in his chest wound causing him to scream and convulse.

"Oh yeah, feeling better already!"

Mega Man fired at Buster Rod but the monkey jumped over him. As he soared through the air, he left a trail of after images. The staff hit Mega Man in the back and propelled him into these fake Buster Rods. They were already fading but still packed a painful wallop. Mega Man spun on the spot and fired several plasma shots. Buster Rod whirled his staff in front of him and deflected the plasma.

"Oh yeah?" Mega Man said as he hurled a Hyper Bomb "Deflect this!"

Buster Rod jumped again to avoid the explosion but Mega Man was confused when he didn't come down. He looked up to see the robot master hovering while spinning his staff like helicopter blades. He grinned widely before extending it towards Mega Man from the air. Mega Man dodged and fired up at the hovering monkey who shrieked in pain.

"Ouchie, that hurt!" Buster Rod said as he landed

"Oh no, I'm so sorry" Mega Man sarcastically answered while firing more plasma shots.

Buster Rod deflected these again but Mega Man had lobbed more bombs. This time the monkey wasn't so quick on the draw and the explosions affected him as he jumped. He screamed and tumbled to the ground. The key slipped off of his neck and both stared at it for a second. Mega Man dove but Buster Rod extended the staff and hooked the chain around it. He flicked the staff and the key went flying into the woods.

"Go fetch" the monkey said in a cruel voice.

Mega Man glanced after it but was struck again by the glowing staff in his damaged chest. He knew the key would have to wait. He quickly grabbed the staff as it tried to retract and a tug of war began. Buster Rod suddenly extended it again and Mega Man's pain made him let go.

"I don't expect you've got much left in you" the monkey observed "That wound looks nasty. I'd thank Mega Water S if you hadn't turned him into sushi."

Mega Man fired on him but Buster Rod was in the air again. He didn't try the hovering trick again but rather kept leaping around trying to hurt Mega Man with his after images. The hero had to be constantly on the move so as to not take damage. He carefully plotted the pattern of jumps and rolled a bomb where Buster Rod was going to be. He smiled as the panicking monkey landed right on top of the explosive.

Buster Rod was thrown back while his staff flew in the other direction. Both robots ran for it and reached it simultaneously. The grappled for a minute or two before Mega Man managed to kick Buster Rod in the stomach. He toppled backwards leaving Mega Man holding the staff. Buster Rod watched in horror as the blue hero brought it down over his knee and it snapped cleanly in two.

"Now let's finish this." Mega Man said as he pointed his buster at the enraged monkey

Buster Rod dodged Mega Man's plasma but looked unsure as to what to do. Suddenly, he cocked his head as if listening to something. He flashed Mega Man a disconcerting grin and teleported away.

"What?! That coward! Wait, was he receiving a message? Who could that be from?" Mega Man stood pondering for a moment before gasping. "I need to get that key!"

It took a few minutes but he had watched carefully where it had fallen. After blasted a few stray Mets away from it, he retrieved the key and smiled. "Now to go save Dr. Light and get out of here!"


	8. Wily Tower

**Hello Faithful Readers. Yes I'm back. I'm just going to say that I was on a sabbatical from writing lol. A lot has been going on recently but I think I'm getting back into my groove at last. Here's the next chapter in the saga of Mega Man!**

* * *

Wily Tower

"Dr. Light!" Roll screamed in joy as she hugged him.

"Ooph! Yes I'm happy to see you as well but be gentle with me. Buster Rod G is not a gracious host and I'm still getting used to teleportation."

"Oh I'm so sorry!" she released her embrace but still looked ecstatic. Her smile slipped a little when she turned to look at her brother "You have definitely seen better days."

"Well considering I was never repaired in the first place, went through a forest fun house, battled a crazy monkey, and then went through the forest fun house backwards, I'd say that I look pretty good."

"Well when you put it that way…you look like you were run over."

"Which we can now fix" Dr. Light said before they could start bickering.

"I can wait" Mega Man said quickly "You need rest!"

"No Rock, I can't rest yet. Buster Rod G is still out there" Roll gasped but let him finish "and we don't know what his next move will be. You are more important right now."

"You didn't finish him off?" Roll asked

"No" her brother answered, "I did manage to destroy his staff but then he left."

"Just like that?"

"Well…he seemed to be listening to something and then we seemed very happy."

"Which is not happy news for us" Dr. Light said, "Let's get you fixed up." He glanced around and asked, "Where's Murphy?"

Roll replied "He said he had an important call from his office and stepped out. I didn't realize until now how long he had been gone."

The phone rang at that moment and Dr. Light answered it. "Hello...Yes it is….Oh hello Agent Stern…Yes I'm fine…no we're not sure where he is at the moment but why…What? You can't be…you must mistaken…ok, ok we'll turn on the news…yes I promise to let you know if he turns up but I still think you're wrong…ok, goodbye."

"What's going on?" Mega Man asked as Dr. Light turned large computer monitor to TV setting.

"Dr. Whitefeather is suspected of…oh my goodness!"

The newsfeed showed pandemonium at a heavily fortified tower with government signs on it. A woman was speaking into a microphone a presumably safe distance away. "We are now reporting live from the Department of Robotics where most of the trouble is coming from the main tower. The contents of this tower are mostly top secret but it is speculated that this is where government scientists collect, study, and experiment on dangerous robotics technology. All we have been told is that the security systems have gone haywire and every attempt to regain control has failed."

She placed a hand to her ear and nodded. "I have just been informed that our studios are being contacted by a video feed supposedly from inside the tower. We take you now to that."

The screen was suddenly filled with Buster Rod's face as he adjusted the camera. He then slid backwards in the wheeled chair he was lounging in revealing a highly sophisticated control room. He spun a few times in his chair and then began to talk.

"Hello Losers! I am your charming host, Buster Rod G. I'm sure you remember me from the attack on the symphony hall. My brothers were with me then but a certain blue freak rudely murdered them. I've suffered a few setbacks myself but now things are really going my way because a new friend has given me complete control of this place. I use my new toys to carry on the dream of my creator, the great Dr. Wily!" He threw his arms in the air as he said this and looked triumphant. He suddenly jumped up and ran to the camera. "Mega Man, I left in the middle of the game. That wasn't very polite so I will let you, and only you, into my new home so we can finish this. I'll be sending a teleport code so you don't have to deal with the boring people outside. Come Mega Man…come to Wily Tower!"

The screen went black and then shifted back to the reporter. "This is shocking, simply shocking. I am informed that the friend this robot speaks of is most likely Dr. Murphy Whitefeather, who is a rising star in this department. His office apparently held emergency over ride codes that would give one exactly the kind of power now displayed by Buster Rod G. Dr. Whitefeather's current location is unknown, which only adds to the suspicion. We urge anyone with any information to come forward…"

Dr. Light muted the broadcast and looked deeply troubled. "It all fits and yet…it can't fit."

The phone rang again and this time Roll answered it while Mega Man continued talking to Dr. Light. "He's been helping me all this time; it can't be Dr. Whitefeather."

Roll hung up and said "That was some news person calling to ask about Mega Man. I said he was unavailable right now because we were working on setting things…" the phone rang again and she said "Oh no."

"I recommend letting everything go to voice mail now and we'll deal with it later" Dr. Light said "You're right Rock. I personally think the best thing to do would be to get you back in action ASAP. We'll deal with Buster Rod and take back control of the tower…then, hopefully, we'll have our answers."

"I couldn't agree more" Mega Man said "Let's get to work!"

* * *

Mega Man found himself materializing in a dim corridor. All around him he could hear a dull cacophony of mechanical sounds, but the immediate area seemed quiet and empty. He took a few tentative steps forward and jumped as a loud voice filled the corridor.

"Hi Mega Man!" Buster Rod boomed through the speakers in the ceiling. "Smile for the camera" As he said this, the security cameras turned to face him. "Oh my, don't you look grumpy, I said to smile."

"I'll smile when you give this place back."

"That would be rude after it was so nicely gifted to me. I've already renamed it and even have the Mets about to start on a big skull for the front. Then it really will be Wily Tower."

"I really don't know where he learned to decorate" Mega Man said before shaking his head "No more distractions! Get out here and we can finish this!"

"That wouldn't be very fun. You must find me first. All you need to do is deal with a few robot testing/training areas. It should be easy for someone like you. Have fun!"

The sound system went dead; Mega Man waited a moment and then groaned in frustration. Moving forward he soon found the first floor he'd have to deal with. He saw what seemed to be a maze of ladders and platforms. He stepped fully into the room and was instantly peppered with plasma. Painful balls of it were being sprayed from little turrets on the floors and ceilings. Mega Man threw his arm up to protect his face while turning his buster on the turrets while doing his best to dodge the hail of fire.

As soon as the area was clear, he ran forward into narrow passage that ended in a dead end with a ladder. Mega Man debated going back but the passage behind him was now filled with electric barriers. "He's probably up anyway" Mega Man muttered as he climbed.

He had barely secured his footing on the next platform when a small, spiked disk slammed into his foot. He stumbled and almost fell back down the ladder but managed to regain his balance. He jumped as the disk shot at him again and continued down the new passage. He was struck by more plasma and paused long enough for the disk to catch up. The shock knocked him to the ground and he then felt more plasma from the turret above him.

The disk began to repeatedly slam into him, so he quickly sat up and shot it. It froze in place. He shot the turret just as the disk woke up and hit him again. Mega Man shot it a second time and scurried to a standing position. He then jumped over it and ran to the next ladder. Beams of electricity were shooting across it so Mega Man had to keep the disk at bay while waiting for his chance. He started to climb and was waiting for the next beam to cease when more plasma struck him in the back. Rather than deal with the new turret, he simply took his moment and climbed as fast as he could.

This maze of ladders and twisting corridors went on for a while. Mega Man supposed it was some sort of training facility but he felt sorry for those who had to use it be they robot or human. He was relieved when he realized he had emerged onto a wide, flat area with no more ladders but then he noticed the Big Eye bouncing towards him. A quick visual scan of the area revealed that the only door was behind it.

"It's like a boss at the end of a level. What does Buster Rod think this is, a video game?"

"Yep!" a gleeful voice from the ceiling announced "Although I'd rank this one as more of a mini-boss. Oh don't let me distract you!"

Mega Man looked around to see the beast was upon him and about to jump. Mega Man backed away quickly while staggering a bit. Buster Rod's laughter died when Mega Man cleanly slid under the cycloptic machine.

"Cheater…" Buster Rod said as Mega Man ran for the door as the Big Eye tried to turn around. "Oh well, I guess those are a little old school. Have a hot time in the next area I've set up for you!"

"Wily certainly programed his flair for the dramatic into that him" Mega Man muttered as he passed through the doors and found himself inside an elevator. It swiftly carried him upwards. Soon the doors slid open and Mega Man was hit by a wave of intense heat. He was looking out into a very large, open area made up of catwalks and various other platforms. Below this was a lake of what appeared to be molten lava.

"What in the world?"

"This floor is for testing and developing fire-based robots and machines. I may have turned the heat up a bit though" Buster Rod answered with a laugh "Might of flooded the place a teeny bit."

"Well you certainly know how to give a warm welcome" Mega Man said. Buster Rod laughed but Mega Man was already making his way across the nearest cat walk. Not far ahead, a waterfall of lava blocked the path. As he was wondering what to do, the flow suddenly stopped. He walked past the spot right as the flow started up again and he had a near miss. Mega Man paused to collect himself and found he was trapped between two such lava-falls.

"Not so bad…just focus on good timing…woah!"

He had been surprised by a trio of little flaming robots resembling fireballs floating towards him. He destroyed them with his buster but noticed more rising out of the corner of his eye and these evaded his buster shots. They moved slowly but were not falling at random. Mega Man managed to hit one but was painfully struck by a new one from behind. Mega Man began firing while spinning on the spot. Soon the air was relatively clear of the fireball enemies and he ran under the lava-fall as it paused its flow.

Mega Man came to the end of the cat walk and prepared to jump to the next platform. As he reached the edge, a jet of flame rose from below and Mega Man was partially singed. He groaned as he picked himself up and more fireball enemies began to swarm. He blasted them and kept his eye on the tower of fire. Its timing was a little trickier than the lava-falls, but Mega Man made the jump successfully. His roasted leg was a little stiff, but he forced it to keep moving as he jumped over another fire tower right as it rose from below. This looked like it was going to continue for a while, but he also noticed a small platform moving back and forth on a rail that ran the length of the room. Glancing back at the increasing numbers of floating fireball robots, he made a split-second decision, and jumped onto the small space as it passed by.

Mega Man smiled as he was carried quickly away from the enemies behind him, who were unable to properly cover the distance and chase him. He screamed in shock as the platform suddenly gave way beneath him. He desperately grasped the metal support poles and slid to a stop just a short way above the lava. He looked up to see that the platform had righted itself and was moving away.

"I knew that was too good to be true. I think Guts Man had something like that. Huh…what's that?"

Something had just moved in the molten lake below. He watched in horror as a dragon rose out of the lava and leered at him. It's serpentine body was encased in fire and flames danced on it's head.

"I see you found the main feature of this place" Buster Rod's voice boomed "An experimental dragon robot harnessing the raw, awesome power of fire! I call him Fluffy."

"Exactly what part of that is fluffy?!" Mega Man screamed as the beast opened its mouth and belched out fireballs. Mega Man fired plasma at the fireballs and managed to destroy them in mid-air. He began climbing frantically while Fluffy sprayed more fireballs. Mega Man stopped climbing as most of the fire missed. He cringed from the few that didn't but that didn't stop him from returning fire. Fluffy growled in pain as the plasma connected and it sank back into the lava.

Mega Man resumed his climb but hadn't gone far before Fluffy rose again on the other side of the railing. Mega Man was now facing the beast as it filled the air with more deadly projectiles. Fighting to maintain his grip, Mega Man huddled behind the metal support beams until there was a break in the fire storm. He ducked around and fired directly into the dragon's eye. It roared and sank out of sight once again.

Mega Man managed to get into a standing position on the support beams and waited with buster primed. As soon as Fluffy showed its head, he unloaded a storm of plasma. The beast flailed and roared before quickly retreating. Mega Man smiled as he continued his climb.

He reached the top and found there was barely enough room on the platform rail to stand up and he did so. He almost fell off again as Fluffy leapt from the lava and arced over him with fire raining down. Mega Man dropped to his knees and covered his head to reduce the damage. While he was still reeling from this turn of events, the moving platform suddenly slammed into his feet. He wound up splayed over it on his stomach while it continued his trek. It was a combination of luck and instinct that caused him to grip the edge as it dropped down again before righting itself.

"This is ridiculous! I wish I could find a place to properly fight this thing. Ugh!"

He shouted the final word as the platform dipped again. He held his grip with some difficulty, but it did help him avoid more fire from Fluffy. The end of the line was coming up and Mega Man saw a platform beyond it. Thinking that anything would be better than this, he jumped for it. Fluffy arced through the air at that moment and they just missed each other.

Mega Man landed on the platform and found himself bouncing. He groaned as he realized the whole thing on large springs, basically a metal trampoline. Fluffy rose up, stretching to his full length and started filling the air with fireballs. Mega Man bounced on the spot to confuse enemy fire while adding some shots of his own. The dragon swayed but couldn't avoid all the plasma. He quickly sank back down and popped up behind for a repeat performance.

"I don't have time for this" Mega Man said as he bounced around more fireballs "I need to end this quickly, so I can…oh what is wrong with me?" He manifested a Hyper Bomb and said "I totally forgot I had this trick."

Fluffy's eyes grew wide as the plasma hail was replaced by bombs. The explosions rocked him and the dragon retreated into the lava. Mega Man stood at the ready and slowly turned, watching and waiting. Fluffy began leaping over the platform in rapid succession and Mega Man had to keep on the move so as not to get burned.

All the while he kept a careful watch on the dragon's path and ultimately he carefully tossed a bomb where he was going to be. Fluffy hit the bomb head on and Mega Man had to crouch defensively due to raining debris. The dragon landed on the trampoline platform next to him and the rocking almost knocked Mega Man off. He regained his balance as Fluffy began to slide backwards into the lava while groaning.

"Sorry about this" Mega Man said as Buster Rod's voice boomed from the ceiling yet again.

"You killed Fluffy!"

"Self-defense, he was trying to kill me but I'm not going to argue this. I'm getting out of here."

As he spoke, Mega Man hopped the last few platforms and reached a door on the far side of the lava room. It opened for him and revealed a teleport hatch. Mega Man hesitated only a second before stepping inside and vanishing.


	9. Every Floor a Surprise

Every Floor a Surprise

Mega Man emerged from the teleport pod and found himself in a small metal room with only a pool of water at his feet. He crouched down and peered into the water, it appeared quite deep.

"Boo!" Buster Rod shouted through the speakers, causing Mega Man to tumble into the water. Mega Man could hear the monkey's laughter even through the muffling effect of the water as he landed in a heap on the bottom of the pool. As he stood up, he noticed that the pool was connected to a tunnel and he began to walk down it.

"First fire, now water" he thought to himself "this place certainly is well equipped."

It was so dark in the watery corridor that even his night vision was having trouble coping with it. He was treading carefully but still found himself tripping over something large and heavy at his feet. He faceplanted and glanced up in time to see a hermit crab robot inches from his face. It slammed into him and sent a painful shock through his body. Mega Man stood up and made his way carefully around the robots, taking care not to knock off their shells and make them faster.

After making some slow and sometimes painful progress along the tunnel, he heard a heavy thud not far away. He could make out a shadow rising through the water but couldn't ascertain more about this new threat. As he stood there, the crab bots started bumping painfully into him. Mega Man tried to carefully move away but they swarmed and he almost tripped. Sighing, he began quickly blasting and managed to fully destroy a few. The others avoided the second round and were now swarming with increased speed.

All the while, Mega Man has been backing up without even realizing it. The now flat and speedy crab-bots finally succeeded in upsetting his balance and Mega Man was thrown flat on his back. His eyes grew wide in horror as a dark, heavy shadow dropped from above at great speed. He only barely managed to sit up in time and he still felt it scrap his back. Now able to see the thing up close, he turned and watched as a spike-bottomed press rose slowly from the ground.

He scrambled to his feet and ran while the crab-bots gave chase. The press slammed down on top of them while Mega Man skidded to a halt inches from a second one. He waited for the right moment and ran swiftly moved forward.

"Dr. Light might want to look into making me able to swim" he thought as he made his way down the press filled tunnel. "Not that it would be much help here but still…"

He was shaken out of his thoughts by suddenly, and painfully, reaching the end of the dark tunnel. He pulled himself together and realized that he had bumped into a ladder. Mega Man climbed up and found himself in a large, open, still underwater, area. The lighting was a little bit better and he could see many platforms that he assumed were his way up. He crouched down and soared upwards through the water, managing to grab the edge of a platform.

"You'd think someone made of metal wouldn't be able to do that" He inwardly mused as he pulled himself up. He almost slipped as a tiny frog leapt right into his face. "Ouch!"

The area in front of him was covered in the little leaping menaces. A large, squat frog was perched on the platform above. Mega Man quickly climbed up as more tiny frogs poured from the large one's mouth. He kicked several small ones aside while he turned his buster on the mama frog. He managed to get out one plasma shot before she showered him in little frogs. The tiny beasts crawled all over him, painfully shocking him with every move. He staggered backwards in surprise and pain only to find himself falling backwards.

"These things have certainly become more aggressive…" he grumbled as he slammed back onto the ground below. The frogs that hadn't been smashed continued to aggressively crawl around while administering tiny shocks. Mega Man began ripping them off and tossing them away only for them to hop right back. Finally, he managed to stand up and shake them all off. It took a few minutes longer to blast all the little moving targets, but he managed in the end.

He then looked up and spotted the frog mama. He aimed carefully and used only a few plasma shots to take her out. Then he returned the platform and quickly blasted the last few frogs. He scanned the next few platforms for hazards and took out another frog mama before making his way up.

Mega Man was halfway up the platforms when he spotted something new floating through the water above him. The shadowy form was not immediately discernable and thus he had only a second to react when he realized it was a water mine. He jumped back to the platform below and covered his head. The deadly machine struck the platform right where he had been standing a moment before and exploded. Once he was sure the way was clear, Mega Man hopped back up but noticed more mines floating down toward him.

He knew he couldn't keep ducking and hiding forever if he was ever going to get out of this watery mess. He came to a risky decision and formed a Hyper Bomb. He hurled the sphere above high above him and it struck the lowest mine. The resultant explosion caused a chain reaction in the others and soon the way clear, at least for the moment. Mega Man hastily hopped the next few platforms and came face to face with another frog mama.

Groaning, the blue robot began to blast the android amphibian while dodging its annoying spawn. To make matters worse, more mines were now falling toward them. Mega Man switched to Strong Arm and grabbed the frog mama. With his temporarily increased strength, it was easy to hurl the creature directly at the nearest mine. The chain of explosions was closer than before, but Mega Man was able to avoid most of the debris. Another fortunate side effect was that the little frogs were frightened off the platform by all the light and noise.

"And here I thought water sports were supposed to be fun" he thought as he made his very quick way upwards.

He occasionally had to deal with more enemies and bombs, but his plan of attack held true. He finally glimpsed the surface of the water. He knew that wasn't likely the way out as the mines had to be being dropped from some sort of mechanism above. He looked around for an alternate exit and spotted a door in the wall across a final series of platforms. Mega Man rushed towards this new goal but his timing concerning the water mines had been thrown off. He was mid jump when he realized that one was right above him and closing in fast. He twisted desperately and managed to turn backwards. He fired a series of plasma shots that propelled him away from the mine but also detonated it.

"Uh oh" was all he could think before he was rocked by the explosion. He was flung through the water and slammed against the wall. He began to fall but, not desiring to do all of that again, he began to flail madly. He managed to muster enough momentum to carry him to a support beam which he clutched for dear life. Slightly battered, but overall fine, he hung there until the current round of mines had passed. Then he climbed up the platform and jumped over to the exit door.

He entered a small room which proceeded to seal itself and drain of all water. "Finally, that's over" Mega Man said aloud.

"Aw, didn't you like my little water park?" Buster Rod asked through a speaker in the wall.

"Not a lot of variety in the attractions and the safety levels could use work. I can't say I'll be recommending it."

"At least I got a joke out of you, so that's fun."

"Yeah you'll think it's fun when I finally find you."

"I'm sure I will but you need to make it through the rest of the game first."

Mega Man sighed as the water finished draining and the next door opened. He climbed a set of stairs until another door swung open next to him. He walked out into a large, empty room with no visible way up. Just as Mega Man was going say something, a block appeared in mid-air near him quickly followed by others in a seemingly random but upwards leading pattern.

"Ugh, I hate these things!"

"Think they're nifty" the voice of the mad monkey commented

"Sure, you don't have to climb them."

"Well it's not like you have to do it alone. There are some nice friends waiting for you in here."

"Oh, joy is me" Mega Man replied before jumping onto the lowest block.

To Buster Rod's credit, he didn't comment while Mega Man attempted to climb. He did giggle once or twice as he messed up but never deliberately tried to break Mega Man's concentration. He was just getting the pattern down when a spy bat flew out of the shadows directly at his face. Mega Man shrieked and felt the block dissolve under him. He crashed hard to the floor and tried to ignore Buster Rod's gales of laughter.

"You do know the mic is on, don't you?" Mega Man asked in irritation. The monkey simply laughed again, so Mega Man returned his focus to the bat. It had been joined by a couple of friends and the trio was fluttering around the vanishing blocks. Mega Man fired at them, but the bats simply dodged. He tried a few more times but the flying beasts were a bit too agile for him.

He decided to try his luck from closer range and began climbing the blocks again. His robotic reflexes and carefully honed instincts served him well as he made his way higher and higher. As he jumped, he blasted the bats out of the air and only made a few near misses with his jumps. Now that he'd found his groove, he started to smile as he continued to jump and deal with the bats.

His groove was officially thrown as he came level with a platform jutting from the wall. Was about to jump onto it when a jet of flame singed his legs. Mega Man plummeted in shock and pain, crashing all the way on the ground far below. More laughter met his ears as he carefully made his way back up. He was far warier as he approached the platform and jumped to nearby block as the fire arced through the air again. He spied a large robotic wolf leering at him and spewing more fire from its mouth. He had to quickly jump back to the original block to avoid another fall.

Mega Man continued this game of jumping back and forth while dodging the wolfs fire breath. He tried to shoot back but most of his concentration was devoted to neither falling nor getting barbecued. Deciding that another plan was needed, Mega Man jumped not onto one of the vanishing blocks but onto the platform along side the wolf. It turned to face him, but Mega Man had run around to fire plasma at its backside. The creature howled and turned on the spot. Mega Man instinctively slid to avoid the fire from its mouth but wound up stuck between the monster's legs.

"Ok, this wasn't my smartest plan" he said as the wolf began stomping around and trying to get him. Mega Man fired up into its belly but that only riled the beast up even more. Mega Man rolled to the side during a particularly mad flail and he almost rolled off the platform. He stopped just in time and look up to see the wolf staring right into his face.

"Hello…" Mega Man said as the beast opened its mouth to roast him. Mega Man's reaction was slightly faster; he raised his buster and fired right down the wolf's throat. It roared and sparked and finally collapsed…right on top of Mega Man. He carefully pulled himself free and stood up.

"I'm a little disappointed he wasn't in the lava area…at least he wouldn't have been in such an annoying spot!"

Mega Man looked around for the way to continue. He'd been so distracted by the wolf, that he hadn't noticed the robots on clouds floating around. One now floated close to him and hurled what looked like a lightning bolt. Mega Man dodged and tripped over the wolf carcass. Muttering darkly to himself, he stood back up and blasted the little "Zeus-Bot". The robot was ripped apart, but the cloud remained.

Mega Man leapt onto the cloud and let it carry him higher. Suddenly he smiled and called out "Hey Buster Rod, according to the story you're based on, shouldn't you be on this cloud?"

"Hey that's right! I want a flying cloud!"

"Here's one" Mega Man said as he blasted another robot. "Oh wait, I need it" he continued as he jumped onto it.

"Maybe your jokes aren't fun after all…"

"Don't be like that, I'm actually starting to like this place a bit." He had reached the top of the room and grabbed onto the ladder that led to the next level. He saw a couple of Sniper Joes in long legged carriers with lethal looking weapons. "I take that back."

Buster Rod simply laughed while Mega Man dodged the streams of powerful plasma from the Joe Carriers. He ran forward and slid between the legs of one of the carriers while leaving behind a Hyper Bomb. It started hopping in place to turn around and face him and landed on the bomb. The explosion knocked it off balance and it landed with a great crash. Mega Man, meanwhile, was dealing with the other which was keeping pace annoyingly well. Mega Man tossed another bomb over his shoulder but missed. At the same time, the original Sniper Joe was now on his feet and firing at Mega Man. Mega Man began running in a zig zag to avoid their fire.

"Ok if aiming at the feet doesn't work…" he said as he lobbed a bomb up into the ride armor. The Joe freaked out a bit as it landed but couldn't do anything in time. Mega Man then rolled a bomb at the feet to finish it off and was amazed as the ride armor landed on the Joe on the ground.

"Well that was lucky. Oh, I didn't notice that before" He said as he noticed a big metal door with a "W" painted on it. "I bet there's something nice and deadly behind that"

The door opened as he approached and Mega Man entered a large empty room. The door slammed behind him and suddenly a metal ball a little larger than his own body landed in the middle of the floor. It floated into the air and opened a pair of eyes while simultaneously extending four metal rods. The ends of the rods crackled with energy while Buster Rod spoke up.

"You got lucky with Fluffy but let's see you handle this bad boy!"

"What's his name? Bouncy?"

"Hey, don't insult Bartholomew!"

"I'm…just gonna fight now."

Bartholomew floated closer to Mega Man and released a blue laser from each of the four rods. Mega Man dodged the closest beam, but they ricocheted off the walls like the Gemini Laser. Mega Man danced around trying not to get hit until they dissipated. Meanwhile, Bartholomew was floating into a new position and getting ready to fire.

Mega Man fired back but the orb shut his eyes and retracted the rods. The plasma shot simply bounced off and the ball continued floating around and preparing more lasers. Mega Man fired right as the eyes opened and this time the ball reacted in pain. Unfortunately, the beams were released at the same time and Mega Man had to quickly hit the deck. Meanwhile, Bartholomew floated into position directly over the hero and slammed down. Mega Man screamed as he was pressed by the weight, but it quickly took to the air again.

"Forget alien energy crystals, the real wonder is how something that heavy can float" Mega Man said as he climbed to his feet and fired at the orb. He managed another well-timed strike and began dodging the lasers. "Well this is fun. The only time I can attack is when you're attacking me."

Bartholomew swooped at him and Mega Man slid underneath. He turned around in time to take a laser to the chest. He grunted in pain while falling onto his backside. The iron orb turned to face him giving Mega Man a clear shot with his buster. It winced but continued its trajectory causing Mega Man to frantically roll to the side. As he stood up he had to dodge more lasers before Bartholomew soared at him again.

As he moved to the side, Mega Man realized that this was becoming a pattern and decided upon a plan. He waited until the orb swopped again and he planted a Hyper Bomb in its path. Bartholomew didn't react quickly enough and took the full blast. Mega Man smiled and hurled another bomb at the stunned sphere. It groaned as the flames engulfed it. The damaged Bartholomew rose almost all the way to the ceiling, and the eyes now looked angry. Spikes erupted from its body and it began moving much faster.

"Yow!" Mega Man cried as he dodged the bouncing, spiky menace. He fired on it as it stopped moving but while it took the plasma it also summoned a large egg like object. It fell to the ground near Mega Man and exploded.

"Apparently both of us can play the bomb game" he said as the smoke cleared. He quickly slid under a swooping Bartholomew, but this time came within inches of the spikes. "Ok, gotta remember that's more dangerous now."

Bartholomew orbited overhead summoning more egg bombs. Mega Man ran to the far side of the room while firing plasma the whole way. The orb closed its eyes and hovered defensively in a high corner before swooping with deadly speed. Mega Man's eyes grew wide before he dropped into a tiny ball. Bartholomew slammed into the wall above him with frightening force. Mega Man opened his eyes to see a spike inches from his face, but the orb couldn't reach any deeper into his corner.

After a moment, Bartholomew rose back into the air. Mega Man stood up and gasped when he viewed the now cracked metal wall. He tried not to think of what he could look like right now instead of the wall. His thoughts moved in another direction as he studied the crack. An idea was forming but it would be risky.

He glanced back up Bartholomew. The spiked orb was backing up for another attack. Calling upon the strength borrowed from Guts Man, Mega Man quickly forced the crack wider. Bartholomew swooped, and Mega Man put his plan into action. He reached deep into the wall and grabbed a thick cable. He pulled it loose and spun on the spot. Holding firmly to the rubber insulation, he reached between the spikes and placed the bare end of the cable against surface of the orb.

Bartholomew froze in the air and shivered uncontrollably as countless volts surged through it. The eyes rolled, and strange sounds came from inside the orb, but Mega Man held his ground. Finally, it managed to pull away, but its flight was erratic and jerky. Mega Man tossed the cable away and hurled a final Hyper Bomb. It hit the orb right in the face with a mighty blast. Seconds later there was a mighty crash and Mega Man peered through the smoke to see Bartholomew lying on the floor.

"Wow, I can't wait to tell Elec Man about this. Of course, he'll go on about how he could have done it better."

"Yeah, yeah, good job" Buster Rod said "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised even if you had to cheat."

"It's called using the environment"

"Well you may find the environment a little interesting from here on out. "Come on upstairs, Mega Man."

The large door opened again. The path was now clear, and a new door had opened on the far end of the hall. Mega Man strolled toward it and toward new challenges.


	10. Third Floor: Reality Not Included

Third Floor: Reality Not Included

The elevator doors slid open and Mega Man gasped in shock. He was looking into the void of space with stars, planets, and galaxies shimmering in the darkness. He looked down where the floor should be and found only what appeared to be empty space. He knelt and felt something solid with his hands. All the while he had ignored the sniggering of Buster Rod G.

"You're priceless, you really are!" the voice boomed "I could watch you all day."

"To be fair, one doesn't expect to go upstairs and be in outer space."

"Now that would be an elevator, wouldn't it? Maybe there will be one that reaches into space one day."

"Meanwhile, back on earth, I imagine this is hologram experiments."

"Oh my, did you hurt yourself coming to that obvious conclusion?"

Mega Man didn't dignify this with a response. Instead he carefully exited the elevator and the doors slammed shut. Now the illusion was complete; it was as if he was floating somewhere in the solar system. He took a moment to admire the effect, but this proved to be a mistake. He cried out as a heavy object slammed into his chest and knocked him back. He looked up and, by the light of the stars, he spied a green robot whirling another ball and chain above its head.

"I really don't like these guys" Mega Man said as he waited for the new projectile to fly over before he popped up and released the plasma. His aim was true, and the pesky foe was quickly dealt with.

Mega Man walked forward and tripped over a something small and solid. He staggered wildly and slammed into an invisible wall. He realized a second later that this was the real wall of the corridor was in; he had already half forgotten that the scenery was fake. He turned to see what had tripped him and in doing so he narrowly avoided a plasma shot from the Met. He fired at the hard hat, but it was playing turtle. Mega Man fired as it popped back up and the little bot was no more

Mentally scolding himself for not being more careful, he made his slow way forward while dealing with a few more Mets. After a short while, he noticed some odd shapes ahead of him. As he drew closer he realized that they were same sort of spinning platforms from Top Man and Spark Man's area. With a sick feeling, he felt the ground in front of him and discovered that the floor ended inches in front of his feet.

"It could be only a short drop. It must be, I'm still inside." However, he couldn't be certain in this holographic world, it could be deeper than thought, have spikes at the bottom or any number of nasty things. He decided that his only safe bet was to use the path provided and thus he jumped onto the nearest platform.

The rotation of the small surface almost ruined his landing, but the experienced robot kept his balance. He immediately began to plan his jump to the next top but noticed another green robot in the distance. He groaned as he watched it throw a ball and chain. Mega Man timed his jump and soared over the foul object. He landed much less gracefully upon the next one and had to cling to the edge. Another whirling ball soared right over his head and he realized his bad landing was rather lucky.

If wasn't a robot, he certainly would have become nauseous as he lay on his stomach and spun around and around. As it was, watching the spinning stars was not a comfortable thing so he sat up quickly and kept turning his head to focus only on the ball throwing robot. He aimed his buster and fired a series of plasma shots before jumping to the next platform. The robot recoiled from the impact, but the ball was already thrown. Mega Man leaned quickly to the side and it sailed past him.

As the robot spun back into view, he released another volley of plasma and felled the fearsome foe. With this enemy gone, Mega Man moved quickly before another could take its place. He carefully jumped the last few platforms and was relieved to feel solid ground beneath his feet.

He took a few steps and was suddenly frozen in place. His whole body felt incredibly heavy and he couldn't lift his feet. His confusion turned to frustration as he realized that he was standing on a powerful magnet. A large top suddenly emerged from the void and exploded as it slammed into him. He recovered just in time to spot another one and he was able to blast it with his buster.

"What's with all the tops?" he asked in frustration

"What? I like toys" Buster Rod said, "Oh my, here comes another one."

Mega Man saw the truth of his words a moment too late and endured another blast. He had to get off this magnet or the tops would slowly but surely wear him down. He tried with all his might to move his feet but only succeeded in falling onto his chest. He was in real trouble now; most of his body was now stuck to the magnet and it was taking most of his concentration to destroy the incoming tops. Calling on Guts Man's strength, he slowly pulled himself off the magnet, moving along the ground like some sort of insect. Every few seconds he'd stop and blast another incoming top. Finally, he felt normal floor and was able to stand up.

He ran forward and jumped over the next top. He staggered as he ran into steep set of stairs, but he recovered quickly and began climbing. Within seconds, the source of the tops, a squat robot who formed them in his belly, came into sight. Mega Man stopped on the steps and lobbed a Hyper Bomb at it. The bomb collided with a freshly released top and the robot was caught in a deadly double blast.

Mega Man slowly and carefully made his way all the way to the next floor and found that he was still in the depths of space. He took a few more steps and was suddenly pulled forward. He flailed as the pull of the invisible magnet lifted him off the floor. He slammed against it and was plastered to the wall. Due to the holograms, it seemed to Mega Man that he was simply floating in the void.

"Well this is one of the weirdest things that's ever happened to me."

"More like hilarious" Buster Rod announced, "Come on can't the great Mega Man defeat something simple like an invisible magnet?"

"Let me concentrate and we'll find out"

"Okie dokie! Have fun!"

Mega Man rolled his eyes and began trying to crawl up the wall using Strong Arm. He cried out as a plasma shot struck him in the back. With some difficult he turned his head to see a couple of Mets with propellers circling around. In the next second, a large bomb exploded not far behind him. Mega Man looked up to see another bomb arc through the air and come even closer than the first.

"Flying Mets and giant bombs, now it's a real party" Mega Man said sarcastically.

He only received laughter from Buster Rod and thus he summoned all his strength to rip his buster arm free. He winced as more plasma hit him in the back and he returned fire as best he could. The hardhats scattered to avoid his shot and he had a few free seconds. He reached as high as he could and managed to just barely grasp a ledge as another bomb exploded behind him. With great difficulty, and enduring more Met plasma, Mega Man crawled over the edge and found a large, squat turret not far from him.

The turret lobbed another bomb and Mega Man scrambled to avoid it. Through some stroke of luck, the weapon landed just behind him and the resultant explosion propelled him forward. Mega Man was free of the magnet and able to properly return fire. The contemptable canon was quickly destroyed but Mega Man was then struck by multiple plasma shots. He whirled on the spot and saw the helicopter Mets circling and gearing up for another round. He ran backwards and leapt over the remains of the turret as they fired again.

"Missed me. Hopefully I won't do the same with you."

Mega Man stood out in the open dodging plasma until the Mets began to move closer. He smiled as he lobbed a Hyper Bomb at them and shattered them in the blast.

"Success!" he raised his arms in victory and his joints creaked slightly "Yikes. I've certainly seen better days."

"Yeah you're really taking a beating there." Buster Rod said, "On the one hand, that's a real compliment to my tower but on the other hand it would be boring if you were taken down by Mets."

"You know we could always just cut to the chase and end this."

"Mmmm…" the evil monkey hummed thoughtfully for a few seconds before saying "You know what? Why not?"

Mega Man's body began to glow with teleport energy and he was next aware of being blinded by sudden bright lights. His eyes quickly adjusted, and he was no longer in space. This appeared to be an empty round room where the floor consisted of large tiles. Mega Man took a step forward and it the noise echoed loudly in the empty chamber.

"Mega Man" Buster Rod boomed "You have faced many challenges in your journeys. Now you shall face the strongest, most skilled, most handsome foe ever." Buster Rod G suddenly dropped out of the shadows high above and landed across the room from Mega Man. "It's a-me" he said in an Italian accent "Buster Rod G!"

"Wow we really are cutting to the chase. Ok, round two it is then."

"Yep. Sadly, you broke my staff, I'm still angry about that by the way, but I'm not out of the game yet."

Buster Rod snapped his fingers and the entire room shook. Mega Man was shocked to feel the tile under his feet beginning to sink. He quickly jumped onto another one, but the result was the same. After a few more seconds of this, Mega Man found that he was in free fall with only the large tile to stand on. The others were now falling as well, creating a series of platforms all falling at different heights and speeds. Buster Rod was perched calmly on his little platform with his arm extended. It was only now that Mega Man noticed that the hand had been replaced with a plasma buster.

"Isn't this fun? It's like a ride at the fair!"

"Fun isn't quite the word I'd use" Mega Man said as he struggled to keep his balance

"I have a word for you to use. It's ouch!"

Buster Rod fired his new buster arm and Mega Man recoiled as the plasma struck him. He almost fell of his platform while Buster Rod jumped across several of them and moved closer. He blasted again, and Mega Man did fall off this time. He was suspended in mid air as he fell alongside the various platforms. Buster Rod jumped onto the nearest platform and wrapped his tail around Mega Man's ankle. He grinned as he gave Mega Man a spin.

"Around and around he goes, where he stops, nobody knows!"

In his state of freefall, Mega Man just kept whirling around while Buster Rod laughed. Finally, he grabbed a passing platform and began pulling himself on it. He almost fell off again as Buster Rod shot him in the butt, but Mega Man managed to stand up. He spun to return fire, only to find the monkey on the move again. Buster Rod hopped several platforms and landed in a handstand. Perfectly balanced on one hand, he raised his buster and fired.

Mega Man spied a platform to his left and slightly raised. He jumped onto it, wobbled a bit, and then found his balance. He released a rapid-fire rain of plasma and Buster Rod wasn't so quick to dodge this time. The Robot Master was pelted with lethal energy and toppled backwards. He recovered instantly, using his tail to grab his platform and swing to another. He flipped in midair and landed on his feet. He turned to face Mega Man only to get more plasma in the chest.

"Now this is a fight" he announced with a grin "Doesn't this just get your blood, er, oil pumping?"

"It is certainly, er, exciting."

"Of course! Even a good two shoes like you can see how awesome this is."

"I do wonder, though, if the whole falling gimmick isn't to make up for your lack of skill. I do seem to be winning"

Buster Rod sobered up quick, in fact he looked down right perturbed. Mega Man had been counting on this and was already firing. Buster Rod jumped to the side, with the plasma shots only grazing his side. He moved with remarkable agility and was soon perched on a platform level with Mega Man's chest. Buster Rod crouched and wrapped his tail around Mega Man's buster arm. The weapon was yanked to the side and the monkey raised his own in Mega Man's face.

Acting more on instinct than conscious thought, Mega Man activated Strong Arm and punched Buster Rod with his free hand. The spiteful simian reeled backwards, yanking Mega Man with him by his tail. Both robots left solid footing and were now free falling while still linked. Buster Rod kicked and clawed while Mega Man was forced on the defensive. Buster Rod aimed his arm cannon again while Mega Man tried to force it in a safer direction. Finally, Mega Man, managed to fire his own buster and Buster Rod was forced off him, his chest dented and smoking.

"Ouch. Nice shot"

Mega Man didn't bother to respond but instead grabbed a nearby platform and activated Strong Arm. He hurled it at Buster Rod; the monkey's eyes bulged, and he tried in vain to dodge. The tile struck him in the side and hurled him into the wall. He stuck to the wall and appeared to rise away from Mega Man who took this opportunity to maneuver, with some difficulty, onto a nearby floating tile. He found his balance and looked up; Buster Rod was now making his way, tile by tile, back down to Mega Man.

"That was vicious"

"I'm ready for this to be over; this needs to be over. My natural inclination is to be nice, but I can't afford to lose. What you did to my family is proof of that."

"We didn't hurt them…much."

Mega Man just glared at him and began firing again. Buster Rod danced on his tile, frantically avoiding plasma. He finally dropped to his stomach, under the current reach of Mega Man's attacks, and returned fire. Mega Man grunted as the shots struck him in several places and he almost fell off his platform. He righted himself and tossed a Hyper Bomb. Buster Rod shrieked as it found it's mark. The smoke cleared to reveal a now battered monkey in a state of free fall.

Buster Rod's head snapped up and his eyes practically glowed with rage. He flipped in midair, fired behind himself, and rocketed towards Mega Man. Mega Man jumped off his platform and Buster Rod sailed past, striking the wall headfirst. Mega Man managed to turn around and fire more plasma at Buster Rod. The robot master grunted as the blows struck but he was undeterred as he climbed down the floating tiles on all fours.

Mega Man kept his assault up, but Buster Rod dodged most of it. The robot master leapt over Mega Man and tackled him from behind. Mega Man struggled to keep his balance while a tail wrapped around his buster arm and pointed it away from the battle. At the same time, Mega Man found a red buster right against his head.

"Who seems to be winning now?" Buster Rod hissed into the other ear.

"Me!" Mega Man replied as he flung his head backwards and repeatedly smashed his helmet into Buster Rod's face. Buster Rod grunted and loosened his grip just enough for Mega Man to pull free, whirl around, and fire point blank. Buster Rod screamed as he fell backwards and then hung limply in the air.

Mega Man was jarred by a flash of light and the ground beneath his feet becoming suddenly solid. He was in the round, tiled room that had started all of this with Buster Rod lying unmoving nearby.

"All of that was an illusion?" Mega Man said in astonishment

"Of course, it was" a voice announced, "but what comes next is very real."

"What!? How can it be…"

There was a flash of teleport energy and Mega Man was gone.


	11. Politically Incorrect

**Here at last is the (hopefully) exciting climax of this story. I honestly don't know why it's so hard to focus these days, to make myself sit down and write. I think I'm done with making promises but I am going to keep trying and just see what happens. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

Politically Incorrect

"Senator Camp?" Mega Man finished his sentence as he rematerialized. He tried to get his bearings but all he observed was a dimly lit corner. The unexpected voice boomed out of the darkness in a cold laugh.

"Oh, were you not expecting me? I suppose I did fly rather successfully under the radar."

"This doesn't make any sense."

"I assure you it does. Who do you think has been guiding the Genesis Trio? Who do you think gave them access to this place?"

"Why would you do that? You hate robots."

Senator Camp laughed again and responded "Exactly! Robots are nothing but trouble. It's not enough that they are quickly making humans obsolete, oh no. Then all the robot terrorism happened. Robots going crazy and causing all sorts of trouble."

"Dr. Wily did that…"

"And what's to stop someone else from doing it again? What's to stop some new mad man from turning robots to their dark purposes?"

"Do you mean yourself?"

"I'm not mad; I'm simply willing to do what's necessary."

"To accomplish what; more of the trouble you were talking about?"

"All for the greater good. Technically the Genesis Trio would have acted on their own, but I did use the opportunity to help them a bit. I'm hoping that if enough mayhem happens, the people will finally wake up and stand against all this mechanical madness."

"That's crazy! That makes you as bad as Dr. Wily."

"No! That man was insane. He kidnapped me just to play a game for crying out loud. I'm trying to help the world not destroy it."

"Had Buster Rod been given free reign over this place and it's weapons, that wouldn't have destroyed the world?"

"Only until humanity woke up and fought back."

"Fighting fire with fire…"

"Oh, just save the clichés, stupid little doll! You wouldn't understand, you're not programmed to. I, however, can think outside the box and do what must be done."

"Oh yeah, real outside thinking here Senator Wily."

"Shut up! Stop comparing me to that man!"

"Then stop acting like him!" Mega Man shouted to the darkness. A though struck him and he asked "What about Dr. Whitefeather? How is he involved in this?"

"He's proving to be a very convenient scapegoat. After all, I must stay nice and clean so I can lead the battle in the political arena. Just imagine what could come of this if I spin it right" Camp now seemed to be lost in his own thoughts "A platform like this, used correctly, could even make me President one day."

"There's the real truth of it" Mega Man cut through the Senator's musings "Just like with Wily it's all about power! You talk about the greater good but what you mean is your good."

"Is it a crime to benefit from doing good?"

"If this is good, then I'd hate to see what you call bad. Things have gone far enough and I'm going to end it here and now."

"Here we go, the little hero-bot playing its programmed role. I guess you need a villain to fight, so I'll gladly oblige. You've been very annoying anyway."

The room was suddenly flooded with light. The other end of the empty chamber was dominated by a very tall red and yellow robot. It was vaguely humanoid in appearance with menacing eyes, a tube-like nose and a blue dome on top of the head. Its feet had spikes for toes as well as on top while the oddly flat hands had spikes on the bottom. It now raised these "hands" into a boxer's stance and the robot took a step forward.

"Do you like my new toy? I suppose Gamma wasn't the only large robot Wily was working on."

"And you don't want to be compared with him…" Mega Man muttered as he struck a fighting pose.

The large machine took several steps toward Mega Man. It wasn't quite the largest arena Mega Man had ever been in and those spiked feet advanced quickly. He aimed his buster, but the plasma simply bounced off the red body. Mega Man hurled a Hyper Bomb with the same results his buster had achieved. He began scanning the machine for any weak points but quickly had to slide under one of the feet. The machine turned around and began advancing again.

"Quite the fine craftmanship" Camp boomed "Very durable. I can take my time destroying you."

Mega Man didn't waste any time replying but simply continued firing everywhere he could reach with his buster. The armored body did its job well and Mega Man quickly had to abandon the assault to dodge the feet again. This time he had to press himself against a wall and move quickly sideways as the foot passed very near him. In that moment he also tried shooting the joints of the foot at close range but that did little better than earlier attempts.

"Face it kid, your finally done. No signals of any sort can escape this room so no calling for your little mutt or any other kind of help. It's just you and me."

Mega Man hadn't been paying attention to his radio but now tried to activate it. The resultant silence only confirmed Camp's words and Mega Man wasn't sure what to do. He was shaken out of his thoughts as the machine kicked at him and he dove to the side with only a second to spare. He had already taken a fair amount of damage and he didn't like the look of those spikes.

Suddenly, an idea struck him. True, the metal exterior of the machine was annoyingly tough but what about the inside? Mega Man slide under one foot and stopped just in front of another. He popped up, activated Strong Arm, and punched the large appendage in the spot where two plates of metal skin overlapped. He immediately punched the spot again and smiled at the small but noticeable dent. His new plan of attack was halted when the foot moved away and the other moved closer. The machine was stomping in place, trying to crush Mega Man.

"What are you doing down there? Come out and die like a man!"

"I thought I was just a little doll" Mega Man said as danced about avoiding the large feet. Realizing that this was getting him nowhere, Mega Man raced out into the open where Camp could see him. The machine stopped his wild stomping and began marching forward. Mega Man ran forward at the same time and managed to land a couple of super punches on the other foot before having to get out of the way again. He now had damaged both feet and knew his plan could work if he went about it carefully.

This process continued for a while longer, Mega Man ducking in to enlarge the holes and then ducking out to avoid becoming scrap. He wondered why the machine did not to more to attack him, but he simply chalked it up to the thing being unfinished when Wily met his demise. The man had been building an entire fortress in his stolen moment of free time, Mega Man thought to himself. It stood to reason he'd have left at least one project unfinished. Finally, he had made a small hole in the left foot and quickly inserted a Hyper Bomb. The blast shook the entire machine and Camp cursed.

"Language…" Mega Man admonished as he used the opportunity to give the right foot the same treatment. The large red machine was now wobbling very unsteadily, and Camp could be heard muttering darkly.

"That trick was getting old anyway" the senator announced, "I don't need legs to take you out."

Mega Man watched in surprise as the legs blew apart and the torso landed with unexpected balance. Mega Man screamed as a spiked hand shot out and knocked him across the room. He recovered quickly and observed that the legless machine was now bouncing towards him, aided by little bursts of energy from underneath.

"I was not expecting that" Mega Man said as he rolled to the side to avoid another right hook. He had a quick glimpse of the oddly flat hand before it rose back to resting mode. He then also looked up at the tube-like nose and had another idea on how to get past the tough skin. He ran in a wide circle, causing the machine to bounce after him.

"This thing does have a few neat tricks" Mega Man said, "but I've had far tougher fights. Does this thing not have any advanced attacks, or do you just not know how to attack properly?"

"How's this for a proper attack?!" The arms shot forward and Mega Man jumped up just before they struck him. He landed on the platform like top of the right one and rode it up towards the face. He could now see Senator Camp through the eyes of the large machine.

"So, you actually are in there. I half expected you to be remote controlling it from safety. I'm almost impressed."

"I don't need your praise. I have voters for that"

The left hand rose high into the air with the obvious intent to smack Mega Man, but the hero was quicker. He fired several plasma shots up the nose and the machine shook again.

"You don't like that, do you?" Mega Man said as he repeated his attack. Camp's face twisted in rage as his hands flew over the controls. The hand shook wildly from side to side and Mega Man lost his balance. He narrowly missed the spikes on bottom and landed in a heap on the floor. The machine bounced forward and Mega Man rolled away frantically.

"Playtime is over, robot. I still have a few tricks up my sleeves."

Mega Man was just getting to his feet when a glowing orb shot out of the nose. It landed near Mega Man and exploded. The blast sent him skidding roughly across the floor and he looked up in time to see more bombs soaring towards him.

"Ok, I'm somewhat regretting the remark about proper attacks now" Mega Man said as he was backed into a wall by more bombs.

As soon as he was pressed against the wall, both spiked hands shot forward trying to strike him. Mega Man rolled forward and found himself between the arms and right up against the body of the machine. The beast raised its arms and started hopping forward to crush Mega Man. The hero quickly responded by rolling a Hyper Bomb in its path and then backing as far away as he could. The legless torso landed on the bomb and was rocked by the explosion. Mega Man felt the blast as well but shook it of and ran while the machine tried to regain its balance.

He ran in a wide circle around the machine while it turned around by hoping in place. As soon as it was facing him, Mega Man took aim at the nose and fired. The constant hoping made it a difficult target, but a few balls of plasma found their mark. The machine moved swiftly toward him while Camp angrily fumed. The arms shot forward with intent to kill but Mega Man once again made his own use of them with a well-timed jump. He once again rode the makeshift platform to eye level. Wasting no time, he lobbed a Hyper Bomb into nose.

In a matter of seconds, sparks were flying wildly from the neck and smoke poured out. The entire machine shook, and Mega Man had to brace himself to keep his footing. "It looks like I messed something up in there."

"That doesn't mean this is over." Camp announced.

Mega Man watched in surprise as the head disconnected from the body and floated upwards. He realized a second before it happened what this meant; the body was now toppling over, and Mega Man slid off the hand/platform. He hit the ground hard and didn't have time to recover before an energy bomb landed next to him. Mega Man cried out as the blast propelled him painfully across the floor and into a wall.

"Curled up and damaged is a good look for you, Mega Man" Camp laughed from above.

Mega Man sat up in time to see another bomb falling. He rolled to the side and landed in a crouching position. He looked up to see the head of the machine hovering like a flying saucer.

"Ok" Mega Man said, "That is actually kind of cool."

He stood up and ran to avoid another bomb. Clear of the blast, he turned and began firing. The head swooped back and forth, and Mega Man just couldn't land a hit on the nose again. It suddenly swooped forward and began raining energy bombs. Mega Man ran to the side and tumbled over something in his path. He instantly realized he had fallen over one of the arms of the discarded torso. He pressed himself against the armored body and waited until the bombs had stopped falling.

"Clever little robot" Camp said from above "but you can't hide there forever."

Seeing the truth in these words, Mega Man began thinking furiously. His eyes ran along the arm to the large hand that was now almost upside down. Seizing upon the risky but fun plan, he ran forward and ducked under the upturned platform. Activating Strong Arm, he grunted as he lifted the entire appendage above his head and ripped it free of the arm. Spying the hovering head off to his side, he turned and hurled his new weapon.

Camp cried out in surprise as it flew, spikes first, straight at him. His moment of surprise cost him the chance to escape; the armored skin was severely compromised by the sharpness of the spikes and the force behind them. Mega Man instantly opened fire upon the scratched surface and sparks were soon flying.

"My, what a handy idea that was!" he said as the head continued to smoke and sputter.

Camp exclaimed angrily as he tried in vain to regain control over the head. It rattled its way to the floor and landed with a crash on its side. Mega Man peered through the eye-windows to see Camp getting to his feet and looked thoroughly disheveled.

"You…you've ruined everything…"

"Yeah I've heard that before" Mega Man interrupted "I think this game is finally over."


	12. Looking to the Future

Looking to the Future

"Ah yes, this is exactly what the doctor ordered" Dr. Light said, setting down his fork with satisfaction.

"I believe you said something to that effect before" Dr. Whitefeather replied with a smile. "I do hope it isn't a jinx."

Rock and Roll smiled at each other while Dr. Light chuckled in response. The group was seated around a picnic table in the back yard of Light Labs. Rush was curled up right next to Rock, who would occasionally reach down and scratch an ear affectionately. It had been a very busy time since the incident at "Wily Tower," so everyone was very happy to steal an afternoon of quiet fun like this.

"I certainly hope not" Dr. Light said, "I'd hate for anything to spoil this."

"Especially since the media keep spoiling any public outings" Roll commented indignantly.

"I'm sure that will quiet down soon" Dr. Whitefeather replied "While annoying, it is understandable what with the kidnappings and the scandals. Technically" he said with a small smile "I'm a bit of both."

"I'm still a little surprised it didn't take more work getting Senator Camp to take me to you" Rock said with a thoughtful expression

"After the beating you'd given him already?" Roll answered "Of course he did what you asked. Camp should simply be grateful I wasn't there" she added furiously "I do not take kindly to being kidnapped."

"You at least at a nice, scenic area in the woods" Dr. Whitefeather jokingly replied "I was stuffed in a dark room."

"I don't see any point in trying to figure out who had it worse as it was very unpleasant for all of us" Dr. Light said

"Honestly though" Rock said, "I think that would be you Dr. Light as you were being actually tortured."

"Oh boy" Dr. Light said sarcastically "What do I win?"

There was chuckling all around before Rock turned serious. "I can't believe we're joking about this. Are we this used to horrible stuff happening?"

Everyone turned solemn but it was Dr. Whitefeather who broke the silence. "I think a little levity can be a healthy think in the face of darkness. It helps us not succumb to it."

"Very true Murphy" Dr. Light said, "We never know what's going to come in the future, but we'll handle it much better if we keep our spirits up."

"That, plus Rock's Mega Buster, and we're all set for anything" Roll said with a smile.

Again, there was laughter all around the table and Rock joined in freely, his heart much lighter.

Senator Camp sat in stormy silence in his cell. His lawyers were hard at work on his behalf, but the future wasn't looking very bright. The testimony of a robot might be legally shaky, but the testimony of Murphy Whitefeather had been devastating. All his plans, all his dreams of power…he stood and paced furiously at the thought of loosing it all.

"Curse that Mega Man!" he exclaimed as a guard passed by

"Quiet down in there, it's about to be lights out."

Camp growled but flopped down on his bed. The guard walked on but Camp wasn't thinking of him anymore. He shifted his head and heard something under the pillow. Reaching under, he extracted a note that certainly hadn't been there before. His curiosity turned to anger as he read it.

"I see I was mistaken to place my trust in you. Your plans amused and interested me, so I helped you along. However, you managed to bungle things in the end and now I must resort to my original plan. Rest assured that one day Mega Man will be destroyed…you simply will not be a part of it."


End file.
